Crisis, Inequalities and Poverty

Francesco Schettino, Ph.D. (2002), Sapienza University of Rome, is Professor of Economics at the University of Campania L. Vanvitelli. He has published extensively on global political economy and Marxist theory and is a founder of the Universtità Popolare Antonio Gramsci.Fabio Clementi, Ph.D. (2002), Sapienza University of Rome, is Professor of Economics at the University of Macerata, Italy. Specialising in income distribution and inequality, he has published an number of books and articles internationally and is currently a consultant for the World Bank.

• ForewordAcknowledgmentsList of Figures and Tables1 The Nature of the Crisis1 Underconsumption, Prices and Profits2 Excess Commodities, Excess Needs3 Pressure to Purchase, Debt and Speculation 4 Financial Speculation and the Ratings Agencies 5 Currency Conflict 2 Dollar vs. Euro From the 2010 Attack to the final surrender of 20151 An Evening in Manhattan2 The Spectre of Speculation 3 The Final Surrender: The Greek Clinamen4 ttip, tpp and Global Conflict3 A Flood of Liquidity From qe towards a New Despotic Management of Capitalism1 ‘Hostile Brothers’ and Fictitious Capital2 Quantitative Easing (qe) 3 The Effects of Quantitative Easing4 Capitalism’s Addiction Problem5 When It Rains, It Pours6 Capital’s New Despotism4 Income Distribution Concepts, Analytical Tools and Empirical Evidence1 Income Distribution1.1 Basic Concepts1.2 Representing Income Distribution2 Global Income Distribution2.1 Income Distribution in Italy 3 Economic Inequality3.1 Measuring Inequality3.2 Relative vs. Absolute Inequality3.3 Inequality in the World4 Income Inequality in Italy 4.1 The Causes of Inequality5 Poverty: Definition and Measurement6 Defining Poverty6.1 Standard of living6.2 Uni- and Multidimensional Poverty6.3 Relative and Absolute Poverty7 Poverty Lines7.1 Measuring Poverty7.2 Poverty in the World7.3 Poverty in Italy 8 Income Polarisation8.1 Definition8.2 Inequality and Income Polarisation8.3 Measuring Income Polarisation8.4 Income Polarisation in Practice5 The Effects of the Crisis on Poverty and Inequality1 More People in Poverty?2 A Less Equal World?6 Pandemic, Crisis, Inequality and Conflict1 The Crisis Scenario Pre Covid 192 Epidemic, Misery, Inequality and Conflict7 Afterword Socialism or Barbarism: Where Do We Go from Crisis, Inequalities and Poverty?Haider A. KhanReferencesIndex

"The Authors have written a book that is pleasant o read and represents the fruit of years of scientific research already published in important journals, especially about the analysis of inequalities."Stefano Lucarelli, in Review of Political Economy, Review of Political Economy"Schettino and Clementi’s book shows in great detail that, in the capitalist system, the accumulation of capital goes hand in hand with the accumulation of poverty. This system, based on the indiscriminate exploitation of man and nature, today reveals all its contradictions, perhaps more than ever before."Domenico Suppa, in SINAPPSI Journal, March 2023 SINAPPSI Journal