The Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade cordially
invites you to attend our International Bank of Commerce
Keynote Speaker Series presentation, What is Government Doing about Inequality since the 1970’s, to be presented by Dr. Peter H. Lindert,
Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis,
and the co-author of Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality since
1700. This presentation will take place Wednesday, April 11, 2018
at 7:30 pm in the TAMIU Student Center Ballroom (SC 203).
This series is open to the public and free of charge.
Translation services (English to Spanish) will be available.
About
the topic:
Income inequality has
been rising since the 1970s, especially in the United States. Are conservative
changes in government policy contributing to this inequality, or have policy
changes brought relief from rising inequality? New data suggest that
although the U.S. government, like Britain and others, has been helping the
richest slightly by cutting top tax rates, they have continued to help the poor
and near-poor with better safety nets. Public education has also acted as a
growing long-run equalizer of incomes. The net effect of policies that
show up in the government budget has been slightly pro-poor, checking part of
the rise of inequality.
If the changes in government spending and taxes did not make Americans
more unequal, what did? Global market forces, mostly. Part of the answer has
been that government policies toward trade and immigration have stood aside,
letting market globalization foster growth while widening the income gaps
within this country. Ironically, the pro-growth refusal to shelter workers
against the globalization of trade and labor markets started as a Republican
policy preference, but Republicans have now become the more protectionist party
at the expense of world income growth.