François Quesnay: Social Classes in a "Rich Agricultural Kingdom" -- Adam Smith: "Progress of Opulence" and an Implicit Theory of Income Distribution -- The Ricardian Windfall: David Ricardo and the Absence of the Equity-Efficiency Trade-off -- Karl Marx: The Decreasing Rate of Profit, but Constant Pressure on Labor Incomes -- Vilfredo Pareto: From Classes to Individuals -- Simon Kuznets: Inequality during Modernization -- The Long Eclipse of Inequality Studies during the Cold War.
Summary
"Today's inequality discourse has a fascinating and illuminating 300-year history. Branko Milanovic describes the evolution of the idea of inequality through portraits of six key economists, from Quesnay to Kuznets. In their work and lives, we see the rise and consolidation of the theory of social class, followed by its twentieth-century eclipse"-- Provided by publisher.
