Winner-Take-All Economics: Professional Inquiry and Public Discourse on Material Inequality
Abstract
What can account for the failure of economists to extend a firm guiding hand into
the public discourse on material inequality in contemporary America? This paper reviews
historical and modern economic literature and then extends its focus to the debates
in the public sector, private opinion, “think tanks,” the news media, the private
sector, special interest groups, and popular culture. The intractable social, political
and economic complexity of the problem and the influence of competing interests deter
attempts at economic interpretation. Economists should respond to the public need
by devoting greater attention to descriptive and prescriptive analyses, developed
with an appreciation of the competing interests and activities of the various sectors
that must accept any response.
Type
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3553Citation
Pryor, Johnathan (2011). Winner-Take-All Economics: Professional Inquiry and Public Discourse on Material Inequality.
Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3553.Collections
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