Onlangs publiceerde de Volkskrant dit artikel: “Amerika ligt qua welvaart mijlenver voor op Europa: gaat de inhaalslag er ooit komen?“ Zelden zal ik het ergens minder mee eens zijn geweest. In absolute economische termen heeft de schrijver echter ongetwijfeld gelijk. In relatieve zin heeft de gemiddelde Europeaan het (veel) beter qua welvaart en welzijn. Waar komt...
Equality vs inequality
Diversiteit versus evenredige vertegenwoordiging
6 Oct, 2023
"De zeven miljoen witte heterojongens en -mannen in Nederland horen over diversiteit dat zij maar twee dingen kunnen doen: hun mond houden en ruimte maken." Dit is de openingszin van een FD opinie van Joris Luyendijk. Mijn eerste gedachte: en de 7 miljoen witte vrouwen en meisjes dan?? Diversiteit staat haaks op evenredige vertegenwoordiging. Eigenlijk is...
Idealism vs populism
20 Jun, 2023
In a recent video (>3 min.), Dutch vlogger Harry Vermeegen wondered why liberal-left beliefs qualify as idealism, while conservative-right beliefs qualify as populism. His remark triggered a question that had once been on my mind, but which I had discarded back then, for reasons I cannot recall. The ingredients of conservative-right beliefs are either (i) emotions...
The surprising fall in global inequality (Axios)
18 Jun, 2023
Axios Macro: The surprising fall in global inequality By: Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown Date: 14 June 2023 "This century has known a startling decrease in global income inequality, bringing it back to levels not seen in well over a century. That's the conclusion that Branko Milanovic, one of the world's foremost inequality researchers, comes to in an...
Inequality and polarization
31 May, 2023
Recently, Belgian newspaper De Standaard published an article stating that a feeling of impoverishment pushes voters towards extremist sides. Hence, more inequality is responsible for more polarization in our societies. Also see my April 12 blog: Politics, a belief in (in)equality. For some time, I have noticed an increasing radicalization in the beliefs of...
Politics, a belief in (in)equality
12 Apr, 2023
On March 1, Scientific American published this article: Many Differences between Liberals and Conservatives May Boil Down to One Belief. That topic caught my immediate interest. My blog title summarizes their article in just one line: Politics is a either a belief in equality or in inequality. It took me a while to digest this article because it uses too many words...
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