A Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Capitalism on Inequality in Communist, Post-Communist, and Long-Term Liberal Economies

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science
© 2023 by SSRG - IJHSS Journal
Volume 10 Issue 3
Year of Publication : 2023
Authors : Advik Lahiri
pdf
How to Cite?

Advik Lahiri, "A Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Capitalism on Inequality in Communist, Post-Communist, and Long-Term Liberal Economies," SSRG International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 10,  no. 3, pp. 21-26, 2023. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V10I3P104

Abstract:

The topic of study is political economy. Specifically, it relates political systems to economic inequality. Previous research had been done but from a much more specific angle for either of the countries explored (the USA and China). Though this previous research had some very unique perspectives and helped in building this paper, there is not a lot of definitive work in comparing these systems from a larger but simultaneously detailed scope, thus providing the rationale for new research. This paper is primarily composed of a thematic and critical meta-analysis of extensive secondary research that seeks to find specific examples that represent and can be linked to the broader questions being asked, namely, what the effect of capitalism on inequality in various economic contexts is. The major findings would be that under this scope of inequality, capitalism appears to be the root cause of economic inequality, while communism has its own distinct negative effects. The significance of this study lies in its definiteness and conclusiveness in providing an argument for the large and much-debated topic of capitalism against communism.

Keywords:

Capitalism, China, Communism, Economic inequality, Social inequality, Socialism, USA.

References:

[1] The Recession of 2007–2009: BLS Spotlight on Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012. [Online].Available:
https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2012/recession/pdf/recession_bls_spotlight.pdf
[2] Khalid Manzoor Butt, and Sarah Sajid, "Chinese Economy under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping," Journal of Political Studies, vol.
25, no. 1, pp. 169-178, 2018.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[3] Thomas Carothers, and Andrew O'donohue, How to Understand the Global Spread of Political Polarization, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, 2019. [Online].Available: https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/10/01/how-to-understand-global-spread-ofpolitical-
polarization-pub-79893
[4] David Coburn, "Income Inequality, Social Cohesion and the Health Status of Populations: The Role of Neo-Liberalism," Social Science
& Medicine, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 135-146, 2000.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[5] Communism: Karl Marx to Joseph Stalin, UNC Center for European Studies. [Online].Available: https://europe.unc.edu/ironcurtain/
history/communism-karl-marx-to-joseph-stalin/
[6] Ryan Cooper, Why Everyone is Talking About Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, 2015. [Online].Available:
http://theweek.com/article/index/258666/why-everyone-is-talking-about-thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-twenty-first-century
[7] David Cutler, The World's Costliest Health Care, Harvard Magazine. [Online].Available:
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2020/05/feature-forum-costliest-health-care
[8] M. Desmond, American Capitalism is Brutal, You Can Trace That to the Plantation, The New York Times, 2019. [Online].Available: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html
[9] Richard Theodore Ely, French and German Socialism in Modern Times, Books for Libraries Press, 1983.
[Google Scholar]
[10] Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Penguin Books, 1967.
[Google Scholar]
[11] Financial Crisis to Cost 20 mn jobs: UN, The Indian Express, 2018. [Online].Available: https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/financial-crisis-to-cost-20-mn-jobs-un/
[12] Van Gosse, The Movements of the New Left, 1950-1975, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
[13] Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Ruth Igielnik, and Rakesh Kochhar, Trends in U.S. Income and Wealth Inequality, Pew Research Center, 2020. [Online].Available: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/
[14] Adi Ignatius, Americans Don't Know How Capitalist China Is, Harvard Business Review, 2021. [Online].Available: https://hbr.org/2021/05/americans-dont-know-how-capitalist-china-is
[15] Eduardo Jaramillo, China's Hukou Reform in 2022: Do They Mean it this Time?, New Perspectives on Asia, CSIS, 2022. [Online].Available: https://www.csis.org/blogs/new-perspectives-asia/chinas-hukou-reform-2022-do-they-mean-it-time-0
[16] Susanna Kim, Occupy Wall Street Protesters Meet Champagne Sippers. ABC News, 2011. [Online].Available:
https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/09/wall-street-protesters-meet-champagne-sippers
[17] Matthew Wilburn King, Why the Next Stage of Capitalism is Coming, BBC, 2021. [Online].Available:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210525-why-the-next-stage-of-capitalism-is-coming
[18] Steve Lukes, Epilogue: The Grand Dichotomy of the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, pp. 602-626, 2003.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[19] National Museum of American History, Learn & Explore - Preparing for the Oath. [Online].Available:
https://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/learn/government-basics/11/learn
[20] Elena Paun, "China’s Urban Poverty Distribution: Economic Growth, Social Inequality, and The Geography of Poverty,” Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 268-273, 2010.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[21] Cassia Peralta, An End to Overpricing? What Big Pharma Price Hikes Mean for Health Care, Wharton Magazine, 2017. [Online].Available: https://magazine.wharton.upenn.edu/digital/an-end-to-overpricing-what-big-pharma-price-hikes-mean-for-health-care/
[22] Thomas Piketty, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century: A Multidimensional Approach to the History of Capital and Social Classes,” The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 736-747, 2014.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[23] Thomas Piketty, and Gabriel Zucman, “Capital is Back: Wealth-Income Ratios in Rich Countries 1700-2010,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 129, no. 3, pp. 1255-1310, 2014.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[24] Kristin Plys, “Financialization, Crisis, and the Development of Capitalism in the USA,” World Review of Political Economy, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 24-44, 2014. [CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[25] Martin Ravallion, A Historical Perspective on China's Success Against Poverty, VOXEU-CEPR, 2021. [Online].Available:
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/historical-perspective-chinas-success-against-poverty
[26] Boike Rehbein, “Globalization, Capitalism and Social Inequality,” Understanding the Dynamics of Global Inequality, pp. 149-157, 2014.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[27] Yaron Katz, “The Implications of Group Participation on Israeli-Arabs Community Politics,” SSRG International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 12-17, 2022.
[CrossRef] [Publisher Link]
[28] Robert Rich, The Great Recession, Federal Reserve History, 2013. [Online].Available:
https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-recession-of-200709
[29] Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Political Economy and The Social Contract, OUP Oxford, 2008.
[Google Scholar]
[30] Manoj Singh, The 2007–2008 Financial Crisis in Review, Investopedia, 2023. [Online].Available:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/financial-crisis-review.asp
[31] Vaclav Smil, “China's Great Famine: 40 Years Later,” BMJ, vol. 319, pp. 1619-1621, 1999.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[32] United States Census Bureau, About Program Income and Public Assistance, 2022. [Online].Available:
https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/public-assistance/about.html
[33] Martin King Whyte, China's Post-Socialist Inequality, pp. 229-234, 2012. [Online].Available:
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/martinwhyte/files/whyte-current_history.pdf
[34] Yu Xie, and Xiang Zhou, “Income Inequality in Today’s China, PNAS-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 19, pp. 6928-6933, 2014. [CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[35] Andrew Zimbalist, and Howard J. Sherman, Comparing Economic Systems: A Political-Economic Approach, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.
[Google Scholar]