Book review: inequality and instability: a study of the world economy just before the crisis

Inequality is a charged topic. Professional macroeconomists have generally taken little interest in inequality taking the traditional economic view that the economy will stabilise itself at full employment. Instead of measuring inequality as traditionally done, by country, author James Galbraith insists that to understand real differences that have real effects, inequality must be examined through both smaller and larger administrative units. Imani Perry is impressed by Galbraith’s new methodological approaches which boldly bring the problem of radical inequality to the fore but notes he fails to take into account some relevant variables like race.