Countries Choose their Inequality

Countries vary in how much inequality they tolerate among their citizens, and a country's inequality reflects its national values and culture. Economist Joseph Stiglitz, an expert on inequality, has demonstrated that a country's inequality is not an inherent outcome of capitalism but a choice that the country has made through its national laws and institutions. Some democratic societies, including Sweden, Finland, and Norway, have made child welfare and shared prosperity top priorities, and these countries have achieved widespread income equality, with a high standard of living for all. Other countries have taken an entirely different approach. Stiglitz provides a list of national regulations that have increased inequality in many nations: the proliferation of world trade agreements, the reduction of taxes on income and inheritances, the weakening of labor unions, the meteoric rise of rich financiers following the deregulation of the finance industry, and the increased market power of companies as they consolidate.

— Buddhist Economics by Clair Brown (Page 88)