Egalitarian Capitalism: Jobs, Incomes and Growth in Affluent Countries

Egalitarian Capitalism: Jobs, Incomes and Growth in Affluent Countries. By Lane Kenworthy. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004. 222p. 32. 50. Two decades of rising wage and household earnings inequality in the world's wealthiest nations make the guiding question of Lane Kenworthy's book both timely and important: “Must we give up on the vision of a dynamic and productive yet relatively egalitarian form of capitalism? ” (p. 1). To answer this question, Kenworthy presents a careful comparative analysis of income inequality in the countries of northwestern Europe, North America, and Australia during the 1980s and 1990s. He shows that there is not necessarily a trade-off between equality and income growth, although there may be a trade-off between equality and some categories of employment growth. Hence, he argues that with an updated, pro-employment version of the welfare state, we need not give into growing disparity in advanced capitalist societies. Whether this will be desired by all and achieved remains to be seen; nevertheless, the book is an important antidote to the “there is no alternative” type of thinking that pervades much contemporary discourse on economic globalization.