ABSTRACT
The long-standing tension between growth and equity is a debate that has had many incarnations over many generations, but it is one that has taken on renewed significance in an international context of significant increases in income inequality in recent decades. This chapter examines recent trends that are behind the evidence for a considerable amount of socioeconomic stagnation or outright decline in real incomes and broader social mobility prospects for a sizable proportion of households in OECD countries. Where are the current lines of the debate being drawn, and what are some of the causal factors? Where it has been less severe, this chapter touches on some of the policy factors that have been instrumental in reducing some of these polarizing effects. And, lastly, what are some of the non-income-related forms of social disparity that affect mobility and greater socially inclusive outcomes? Lastly, this chapter covers some of the implications of a wage and income squeeze in advanced economies as a result of China’s economic ascendancy.
