Over the past forty years, income growth for the middle and lower classes has stagnated, while the economy (and with it, economic inequality) has grown significantly. Early automation, the decline of labor unions, changes in corporate taxation, the financialization and globalization of the economy, deindustrialization in the U.S. and many OECD countries, and trade have contributed to these trends. However, the transformative roles of more recent automation and digital technologies/artificial intelligence (AI) are now considered by many as additional and potentially more potent forces undermining the ability of workers to maintain their foothold in the economy. These drivers of change are intensifying the extent to which advancing technology imbedded in increasingly productive real capital is driving productivity. To compound the problem, many solutions presented by industrialized nations to environmental problems rely on hyper-efficient technologies, which if fully implemented, could further advance the displacement of well-paid job opportunities for many. While there are numerous ways to address economic inequality, there is growing interest in using some form of universal basic income (UBI) to enhance income and provide economic stability. However, these approaches rarely consider the potential environmental impact from the likely increase in aggregate demand for goods and services or consider ways to focus this demand on more sustainable forms of consumption. Based on the premise that the problems of income distribution and environmental sustainability must be addressed in an integrated and holistic way, this paper considers how a range of approaches to financing a UBI system, and a complementary market solution based on an ownership-broadening approach to inclusive capitalism, might advance or undermine strategies to improve environmental sustainability.
Beyond austerity and stimulus: democratizing capital acquisition with the earnings of capital as a means to sustainable growth Abstract: To enhance (1) the earnings of poor and middle-class people and (2) sustainable growth, this article recommends broadening competitive market opportunities to acquire capital with the earnings of capital. The prospect of more broadly distributed capital earnings in future years provides incentives to profitably employ more labor and capital in earlier years. Without redistribution, modest changes in the system of corporate finance will enable market participants to price the value of more broadly distributed capital acquisition and thereby provide market incentives to produce (1) enhanced earnings for poor and middle-class people, (2) enhanced corporate profits and growth, (3) reduced need for welfare dependence, government spending, borrowing, and taxes, and (4) enhanced sovereign creditworthiness. The approach advanced in this article rests on a theory of fuller employment that operates in the long run as well as the short run. It is somewhat similar to Keynesian theory and yet also distinct and complementary. If the approach is implemented either alone or in conjunction with Keynesian policies, the fuller employment and broader distributive benefits may surpass expectations based on Keynesian theory and may make both austerity and stimulus strategies more affordable and politically feasible.
Socio-Economics is a multidisciplinary , holistic approach to economics that has gained growing acceptance in legal education and that is helpful in advocating economics justice. Socio-economics approaches economic understanding much as Adam Smith did (before there were separate disciplines) with a foundation based on natural and moral philosophy. Nevertheless, it explicitly acknowledges the powerful and pervasive influence of the neoclassical paradigm on contemporary thought. Recognizing that people first adopt paradigms of thought and then perform their inductive, deductive, and empirical analyses, socio-economists seek to examine the assumptions of the neoclassical paradigm, develop a rigorous understanding of its limitations, improve upon its application, and develop alternative, perhaps complementary, approaches that are predictive, exemplary, and morally sound. Grounded in the scientific method, socio-economics draws upon all relevant schools of thought and disciplines that shed light on economic phenomena and policy. It is a helpful foundation for exploring economic issues based on university-wide interdisciplinary collaboration in the public interest. * * * * * Although the term "socio-economics" has been used for over a century by many people in many contexts, a particular definition of socio-economics has gained broad support among law teachers in recent years as a useful statement of its methodological principles for addressing lawrelated economic issues. Accordingly, in this article, "socio-economics" refers to the definition set forth in the petition that established the Section on Socio-Economics of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) that was signed by over one hundred twenty law teachers from over fifty American Law Schools. With minor amendment, the definition reads as follows:
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