Unbound: How Inequality Constricts Our Economy and What We Can Do about It

Unbound: How Inequality Constricts Our Economy and What We Can Do about It

by Heather Boushey

Narrated by Teri Barrington

Unabridged — 8 hours, 33 minutes

Unbound: How Inequality Constricts Our Economy and What We Can Do about It

Unbound: How Inequality Constricts Our Economy and What We Can Do about It

by Heather Boushey

Narrated by Teri Barrington

Unabridged — 8 hours, 33 minutes

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Overview

Do we have to choose between equality and prosperity? Many think that reducing economic inequality would require such heavy-handed interference with market forces that it would stifle economic growth. Heather Boushey insists nothing could be further from the truth. Presenting cutting-edge economics with journalistic verve, she shows how rising inequality has become a drag on growth and an impediment to a competitive United States marketplace for employers and employees alike.



Boushey argues that inequality undermines growth in three ways. It obstructs the supply of talent, ideas, and capital as wealthy families monopolize the best educational, social, and economic opportunities. It also subverts private competition and public investment. Powerful corporations muscle competitors out of business, in the process costing consumers, suppressing wages, and hobbling innovation, while governments underfund key public goods that make the American Dream possible, from schools to transportation infrastructure to information and communication technology networks. Finally, it distorts consumer demand as stagnant wages and meager workplace benefits rob ordinary people of buying power and pushes the economy toward financial instability.



Unbound exposes deep problems in the US economy, but its conclusion is optimistic.

Editorial Reviews

Financial Times - Martin Wolf

For a long time, the argument over inequality was about whether it was the price that had to be paid for a dynamic economy. In this outstanding book, Heather Boushey…turns this upside down. She shows that, beyond a point, inequality damages the economy by limiting the quantity and quality of human capital and skills, blocking access to opportunity, underfunding public services, facilitating predatory rent-seeking, weakening aggregate demand, and increasing reliance on unsustainable credit.

Jason Furman

In Unbound Heather Boushey presents the strongest documentation I have seen for the many ways in which inequality is harmful to economic growth. Anyone interested in just about any aspect of economic policy, from education to antitrust to macroeconomics, will learn something from this important book.

Omidyar Network - Beth Kanter

From one of Washington’s most influential voices on economic…a lively and original argument that reducing inequality is not only fair but also key to delivering broadly shared economic growth and stability.

MIT Technology Review - David Rotman

Think rising levels of inequality are just an inevitable outcome of our market-driven economy? Then you should read Boushey’s well-argued, well-documented explanation of why you’re wrong.

David Weil

A comprehensive and bracing view of how a new generation of economists are rethinking one of the most fundamental social problems facing societies around the world: inequality. Heather Boushey offers a road map for policies that can lead to a more equitable and just society and underscores the need for bold thinking on political economy.

Kimberly Clausing

A rising tide used to lift all boats, but decades of rising economic inequality and wage stagnation have changed that. In Unbound Heather Boushey provides a clear and compelling analysis of the many ways income and wealth inequality limits our economic potential, drawing important lessons from cutting-edge economic research. An invaluable addition to current economic policy debates, Unbound is a must-read for those striving for inclusive economic growth.

Project Syndicate - Simon Johnson

Brilliant…Boushey connects [the] dots in a remarkable and refreshing manner. Even for people who have studied the issue, the links and specific policy issues she identifies are illuminating…It is an important cautionary tale: we get the inequality that we choose, regardless of whether we are aware that we are making a choice.

New Yorker

A timely and very useful guide…Boushey assimilates a great deal of recent economic research and argues that it amounts to a paradigm shift.

ProMarket

Lays out a powerful argument on how inequality harms growth, competition, and innovation.

Next Avenue - Richard Eisenberg

Piercing.

Suresh Naidu

Copies of this book should be mailed to every legislator in the country. It is a powerful summary of an enormous amount of the latest and best economics research on inequality, presented clearly and explained with accessible prose.

J. Bradford DeLong

There is a strange gap: a discipline like economics, which aims at achieving the greatest good for the greatest number, ought to have long ago focused on how costly inequality is for all—or almost all—of us. But no. Now, Boushey’s Unbound expertly fills that gap.

Liam Kennedy

Offer[s] up an almost encyclopedic rendition of inequality’s impact on the U.S. economy…The depth of evidence that Boushey compiles is extremely impressive.

Financial Times

For a long time, the argument over inequality was about whether it was the price that had to be paid for a dynamic economy. In this outstanding book, Heather Boushey…turns this upside down. She shows that, beyond a point, inequality damages the economy by limiting the quantity and quality of human capital and skills, blocking access to opportunity, underfunding public services, facilitating predatory rent-seeking, weakening aggregate demand and increasing reliance on unsustainable credit.

Project Syndicate

Brilliant…Boushey connects [the] dots in a remarkable and refreshing manner. Even for people who have studied the issue, the links and specific policy issues she identifies are illuminating…It is an important cautionary tale: we get the inequality that we choose, regardless of whether we are aware that we are making a choice.

LSE Review of Books

Offer[s] up an almost encyclopedic rendition of inequality’s impact on the U.S. economy…The depth of evidence that Boushey compiles is extremely impressive.

Next Avenue

Piercing.

MIT Technology Review

Think rising levels of inequality are just an inevitable outcome of our market-driven economy? Then you should read Boushey’s well-argued, well-documented explanation of why you’re wrong.

Omidyar Network

From one of Washington’s most influential voices on economic…a lively and original argument that reducing inequality is not only fair but also key to delivering broadly shared economic growth and stability.

From the Publisher

A rising tide used to lift all boats, but decades of rising economic inequality and wage stagnation have changed that. In Unbound Heather Boushey provides a clear and compelling analysis of the many ways income and wealth inequality limits our economic potential, drawing important lessons from cutting-edge economic research. An invaluable addition to current economic policy debates, Unbound is a must-read for those striving for inclusive economic growth.

Copies of this book should be mailed to every legislator in the country. It is a powerful summary of an enormous amount of the latest and best economics research on inequality, presented clearly and explained with accessible prose.

There is a strange gap: a discipline like economics, which aims at achieving the greatest good for the greatest number, ought to have long ago focused on how costly inequality is for all—or almost all—of us. But no. Now, Boushey’s Unbound expertly fills that gap.

A comprehensive and bracing view of how a new generation of economists are rethinking one of the most fundamental social problems facing societies around the world: inequality. Heather Boushey offers a road map for policies that can lead to a more equitable and just society and underscores the need for bold thinking on political economy.

New Yorker

A timely and very useful guide…Boushey assimilates a great deal of recent economic research and argues that it amounts to a paradigm shift.

Financial Times

For a long time, the argument over inequality was about whether it was the price that had to be paid for a dynamic economy. In this outstanding book, Heather Boushey…turns this upside down. She shows that, beyond a point, inequality damages the economy by limiting the quantity and quality of human capital and skills, blocking access to opportunity, underfunding public services, facilitating predatory rent-seeking, weakening aggregate demand and increasing reliance on unsustainable credit.

Kim Clausing

A rising tide used to lift all boats, but decades of rising economic inequality and wage stagnation have changed that. In Unbound Heather Boushey provides a clear and compelling analysis of the many ways income and wealth inequality limits our economic potential, drawing important lessons from cutting-edge economic research. An invaluable addition to current economic policy debates, Unbound is a must-read for those striving for inclusive economic growth.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940177547893
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication date: 02/18/2020
Edition description: Unabridged
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