Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

The dramatic decline in corporate gainsharing with American workers over the last two generations has contributed to stagnating wages, soaring inequality, and economic insecurity. There are global causes of greater inequality and depressed pay that go beyond the decline in workers’ share. But many public policymakers and economists believe that the reduced share of corporate prof its that American workers receive has been a major factor in the much larger increase in inequality that has occurred in the United States, compared to its market economy allies in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). To some, the explanation for the change in the division of the corporate pie is simple. During this period, the power of the stock market over American companies has drastically increased while the leverage of working people in the corporate power structure has drastically decreased, leading to stockholders grabbing much more of the pie and leaving workers with crumbs.

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