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The upside of inequality : how good intentions undermine the middle class / Edward Conard.

by Conard, Edward.

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Portfolio/Penguin, [2016]

Middle class -- United States -- Economic conditions.

Equality -- United States.

Distributive justice -- United States.

United States -- Economic conditions -- 2009-

United States -- Economic policy -- 2009-

9781595231239 (hc.)

311 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-3040) and index.

Part I. The world as we find it -- The causes of growing inequality -- The reasons for slowing wage growth -- Part II. Debunking myths: why mitigating inequality is not the solution -- The myth that incentives don't matter -- The myth that success is largely unearned -- The myth that investment opportunities are in short supply -- The myth that progress hollows out the middle class -- The myth that mobility has declined -- Part III. The way forward -- Our moral obligation to help those less fortunate -- The limitations of education -- Real solutions.

Wall Street veteran Edward Conard argues that our current obsession with income inequality is misguided and will only slow growth further. Conard tracks the implications of an economy now constrained by both its capacity for risk-taking and by a shortage of properly trained talent -- rather than by labor or capital, as was the case historically. He uses this fresh perspective to challenge the conclusions of liberal economists like Larry Summers and Joseph Stiglitz and the myths of "crony capitalism." Instead, he argues that the growing wealth of most successful Americans is not to blame for the stagnating incomes of the middle and working classes. If anything, the success of the 1 percent has put upward pressure on employment and wages. Conard argues that high payoffs for success motivate talent to get the training and take the risks that gradually loosen the constraints to growth. Well-meaning attempts to decrease inequality through redistribution dull these incentives, gradually hurting not just the 1 percent but everyone else as well. Conard outlines a plan for growing middle- and working-class wages in an economy with a near infinite supply of labor that is shifting from capital-intensive manufacturing to knowledge-intensive, innovation-driven fields. He urges us to stop blaming the success of the 1 percent for slow wage growth and embrace the upside of inequality: faster growth and greater prosperity for everyone.

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