A Political Economy of the United States, China, and India Prosperity with Inequality

The precipitous rise in global and national economic inequality, which the inexorable force of globalization promised to address with affluence and abundance for all, has returned with a vengeance. The problem of worsening socioeconomic inequality and how best to ameliorate this pernicious resurgence occupies center stage of national and international politics. This study investigates the coexistence of high rates of economic growth and unparalleled prosperity (including a review of the decline in poverty levels in China and India and many other developing countries) with rises in income and wealth inequality in the United States, China, and India. This book examines the overall effectiveness of the measures taken by these three countries to address such anomalies, and what they should do to tackle the problem of widening inequality. This study breaks new ground by providing an original comparative analysis of the challenges facing the world's three major economies.

1. Introduction: prosperity with inequality in the age of globalization; 2. Widening income and wealth gap in United States; 3. Rising prosperity and widening inequality in the People's Republic of China; 4. Democracy, prosperity, and inequality in India; 5. Prosperity with equality: future directions.

Shalendra D. Sharma is a professor in the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco, as well as the Lee Shau Kee Foundation Chair Professor of Political Science at Lingnan University, Hong Kong.