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Economist Branko Milanovic ( https://twitter.com/BrankoMilan https://twitter.com/BrankoMilan ) wrote about this in a World Bank working paper in 2012. Here is

Economist Branko Milanovic ( https://twitter.com/BrankoMilan https://twitter.com/BrankoMilan ) wrote about this in a World Bank working paper in 2012. Here is a recent article which refers to his now famous "Elephant Curve." http://www.voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-incomes-industrial-revolution#.V4eDRJepTrE.twitter http://www.voxeu.org/article/greatest-reshuffle-individual-i... His book published in April: https://www.amazon.com/dp/067473713X/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/067473713X/

woodpanel 10y ago
Not to diminish the suffering of the western middleclass (as I'm part of it) but what about the people in emerging markets? If I understand his thesis correctly our 1% raked in the profits of letting us compete against emerging market workers. To put it in startup lingo: we are the cab drivers, they are the uber drivers. It's not 'perfect' for us. But I have a hard time seeing only immorality at work here, while emerging markets getting a shot at having a middle class at all.
- dv_dt 10y ago
  Maybe it's a hint the this model of capitalism is only good for increasing the wealth of societies within a certain range of development. What happens when emerging markets become developed middleclass markets - do they too stagnate, or does the whole economy decline except for the top 0.1% at that point? Is that an acceptable system?
  - vmateixeira 10y ago
    Interesting theory. Even more interesting if we consider the same top 0.1% to be present in every emerging market.
- throwwit 10y ago
  Ideally globalization gives everyone a shot at a middle class, if everyone plays towards a larger market. Realistically, there's jockeying for trade and racing to the bottom via whatever measures can be taken (lower taxes, fewer regulations, or dumping product). Winners/losers is ok within a liquid self-balancing economy, not for the illiquid concept of countries.
- davidf18 10y ago
  Well, the next 20 years are going to be really interesting. I predict automatic is going to make it so that manufacturing may well move back to the consuming countries (Foxconn that assembles iPhones recently replaced 60,000 employees with robots) and in fact some of that is already happening.
- collyw 10y ago
  I would like to think that the case, but the rich seem to be getting way richer. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/26/recession-rich-britains-wealthiest-double-net-worth-since-crisis https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/26/recession-r...

woodpanel 10y ago

Not to diminish the suffering of the western middleclass (as I'm part of it) but what about the people in emerging markets? If I understand his thesis correctly our 1% raked in the profits of letting us compete against emerging market workers. To put it in startup lingo: we are the cab drivers, they are the uber drivers. It's not 'perfect' for us. But I have a hard time seeing only immorality at work here, while emerging markets getting a shot at having a middle class at all.

dv_dt 10y ago
Maybe it's a hint the this model of capitalism is only good for increasing the wealth of societies within a certain range of development. What happens when emerging markets become developed middleclass markets - do they too stagnate, or does the whole economy decline except for the top 0.1% at that point? Is that an acceptable system?
- vmateixeira 10y ago
  Interesting theory. Even more interesting if we consider the same top 0.1% to be present in every emerging market.
throwwit 10y ago
Ideally globalization gives everyone a shot at a middle class, if everyone plays towards a larger market. Realistically, there's jockeying for trade and racing to the bottom via whatever measures can be taken (lower taxes, fewer regulations, or dumping product). Winners/losers is ok within a liquid self-balancing economy, not for the illiquid concept of countries.
davidf18 10y ago
Well, the next 20 years are going to be really interesting. I predict automatic is going to make it so that manufacturing may well move back to the consuming countries (Foxconn that assembles iPhones recently replaced 60,000 employees with robots) and in fact some of that is already happening.
collyw 10y ago
I would like to think that the case, but the rich seem to be getting way richer. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/26/recession-rich-britains-wealthiest-double-net-worth-since-crisis https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/26/recession-r...