“I asked Mr. Summers what was behind secular stagnation, and he said he was still thinking through all of its causes. But globalization, automation, income inequality and changes in corporate finance might be important factors, he said.
Income is now more concentrated in the hands of the rich. Those well-off households tend to save and invest higher proportions of their earnings than middle-class or low-income families do. That might mean, on aggregate, less spending and less demand across the economy for a given level of income.”
And here is a snippet from our post last week:
“But perhaps even more interesting are the implications for the secular stagnation hypothesis, which holds that we are in a long-run stagnating economy because of inadequate demand. Is it a coincidence that the secular stagnation hypothesis is being revived exactly when income inequality is accelerating? If a higher share of income goes to the wealthiest households who spend very little of it, then perhaps these two trends are closely related.”
Increasing income and wealth inequality is not just about distributing the economic pie. It may very well have an effect on the size of the pie itself.
Aidan has been writing about personal finance for over 6 years. Prior to this, he worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst where he specialized in Due Diligence, Company Valuations and more. He is a CFA charterholder.
