Since his book entitled Global Inequalities, Branko Milanovic has asserted himself as one of the champions of the fight against socio-economic inequalities. He deepens the reflection initiated by Fukuyama on “the end of history”, by trying to show that capitalism now reigns supreme in Europe, the United States and Asia (in an authoritarian form). The capitalist system presents the same three principles in these three areas: production dictated by profit, a mostly salaried workforce, and private capital with rather decentralized governance. However, it distinguishes two forms of capitalism: liberal and meritocratic, authoritarian and state-run. He shows that the spread of capitalism has contributed to raising the average standard of living, but also to widening inequalities, as the share of capital in global income has increased by 4 to 5% at the expense of labor, both in rich and poor countries.
The author also analyzes the evolution of forms of work and predicts a development of remote work, and therefore, a decline in population migration. He finally wonders about the alternatives to the current capitalism, concluding that they can only be worse.
Notes by Jean-Jacques Pluchart
