Britain is a textbook case of how growing inequality leads to economic crisis. The years before the crash were marked by a sharp rise in remortgaging and the growth of 0% balance transfer credit cards. By 2008 the UK had the highest ratio of household debt to GDP of any major economy.
Frances O'GradyRelated topics
case crash credit debt growing inequality ratio rise sharp transfer years cards Britain textbook GDPRelated quotes
I have no credit cards. That was the decision that was made jointly by the credit card companies, and by me. I can't say that that was completely on my account. I buy nothing on credit now, nothing. If I can't afford it, I don't buy it. I have a debit card, that's all I have. Any debt that I have, I am paying down.
Neal Gabler
Thanks to the work of John Maynard Keynes and of Milton Friedman, we now have a better understanding of how governments can (at least in principle) reduce the severity of major economic downturns. Keynesian economics taught us that government spending can raise GDP and reduce unemployment.
Martin Feldstein
The central theme of this paper is the character and causes of long-term changes in the personal distribution of income. Does inequality in the distribution of income increase or decrease in the course of a country's economic growth? What factors determine the secular level and trends of income inequalities?
Simon Kuznets
The dynamic drives of modern economic growth, in the countries that entered the process ahead of others, meant a reaching out geographically; and the sequential spread of the process, facilitated by major changes in transport and communication, meant a continuous expansion to the less developed areas.
Simon Kuznets