Structural Inequality Origins and Quests for Solutions in Old Worlds and New

Inequality stirs passions across the globe today, figures prominently in political discourse, generates fervid debate and popular protest, and is the theme of widely read scholarly publications. This book contributes to the burgeoning global dialogues and literature on economic inequality in a new way, identifying and addressing what may be called bedrock types of inequality whose origins are rooted in the history and culture of each country. These kinds of inequality strongly influence income distributions by strata, can be resistant to change, and require solutions beyond fiscal tax and expenditure policies. And it places the findings firmly in the realm of the relevant studies on the topics covered. The countries analyzed include South Korea, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Estonia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Yemen. 

Preface.- Yemen: Qat and Water.- Arabia Felix.- A Parched Village.- A Legendary Dam.- Old City.- Roots of a Crisis.- Perverse Policies.- Dilemmas of Qat.- Excursions in History.- Markets for the Leaf.- In the Crux Who Pays?.- The Development Bargain.- Estonia: Shaping Freedom.- On Edge.- A Different Kind of Capitalism.- Northern Winter.- Cathedral Mountains.- Abandoned Lands.- From Songs to Markets.- Policies and Mindsets.- Social Ills.- Left Behind.- A Strategy Takes Shape.- Hope in the Potato Patches.- Mexico and El Salvador: Yearnings for Education.- Ragged Orator.- Why Is It So Hard?.- Honduras: Fights over Land.- Hurricanes and Fire.- A Colonial Heritage.- Clamors for Land.- Onions and Sugar Bricks.- Voices of Farmers.- Political Seasons.- Shrimp Ponds.- Presidential Deliberations.- Confrontations.- Polemics and Divisions.- Fading Hopes.- A Door Left Ajar.- A Clearing.- After a Lifetime.- An Archbishop’s Warning.- Shootout.- An Ancient Divide.- The Bishop’s World.- Prophecy Fulfilled.- Retrospect and Prospect.- Pakistan and Bangladesh: A Dream Sundered.- An Abstract Country.- Pieces of a Puzzle A Feudal Valley.- Monsoon.- Storm Clouds.- A Great River.- Watery Lyrics.- Struggles of Tigers and a Country.- Staying Afloat.- Human Development and Economic Growth.- The Spirit of Baishakh.- Peru: Inequality and Inca Technology.- Altiplano.- Puno.- Iron Monsters.- Land Invasions.- Inca Engineering.- Potatoes.- A Festival of Youth.- An Empty Wind.- Alpaca Herders.- Alfalfa and Cheese.- Andean Paths.- Connectivity.- Nigeria: Policy Dilemmas.- Tropical Dissonance.- Workaday Lagos.- Island of Sanity.- Harmattan.- Gin and Data.- Project Designs.- A Paradox.- Sunday’s Peril.- Paradox Resolved.- Paradise Lost.- In the Balance.- South Korea: Pressurized Takeoff.- A Sleep of Centuries.- Village Life.- Whiphand on the Economy.- Abacus Power.- Family Life.- Smashing Traditions.- Korean Hours.- A House with a Garden.- A Hermit’s Memory. Return to the Village.- Success.- Choices.- Development Debates.- Epilogue.- Structural Inequality and Political Economy.- Policies, Governance and Governments.- Agriculture.- The Steep Hill for Rural Women.- Water, Trees and Elephants.- Commitment and Conviction.- Participation.- Patience and Vision.  

Roger D. Norton currently holds a joint appointment in Texas A&M University’s (USA) Agricultural Economics Department as a Research Professor and the University’s Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Development. At the Borlaug Institute he is Director for the Center for Coffee Research and Education and concurrently Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. As principal investigator in the Institute he has led three coffee development projects in Central America, including one that is current, and two projects for other products, one in the Dominican Republic and the other for twelve countries worldwide. Professor Norton earned a Ph.D. in Economics at Johns Hopkins University