On Friday, March 15, 2024, a lecture was held by Prof. Branko Milanović, titled “The Place of Inequality in Economic Science: From Kenne and Adam Smith to Today”. It was a promotion of the professor’s book Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War. Goran Bašić, Director of the Institute of Social Sciences, and Predrag Jovanović, Director of the Center for Economic Research, gave their welcoming speech. The opening speech was given by Marijana Maksimović, PhD, from the Institute of Social Sciences, who was also the moderator.
Milanović’s book Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War Financial Times declared as the Book of the Year in 2023.
The aim of the book was to follow the evolution of economic thought and inequality in capitalism during two centuries through the scientific work of François Quenet, Adam Smith, David Ricard, Karl Marx, Wilfredo Pareto and Simon Kuznetsov.
It includes a historical approach to income distribution, there are many empirical data from the past that are processed in a modern way, equations, but also the author’s thoughts and autobiographical parts. There is no normative approach in the book.
In Milanović’s view, the best studies of income distribution combine narrative, theory, and empiricism. While writing the book, Milanović encountered a huge literature, the literature on Marx alone contained over 120 volumes. He states that Marx was a great fan of capitalism, because he believed that it would develop the productive forces.
Milanović provides an analysis of classes and other interest groups, as well as their power to influence the inequality of distribution. Inequality is the other side of equality. In the past, as now, it is impossible to observe inequality without political influence.
Milanović stated that he had extraordinary conditions and a nice atmosphere at the Stone Center for writing the book. He does not miss the opportunity to say something nice about the country he came from, in the light of macroeconomic indicators, and that can be summed up in one word, the word Motherland, as Đura Jakšić understood it.
Goran Bašić, Director of the Institute of Social Sciences, and Predrag Jovanović, Director of the Center for Economic Research, gave their welcoming speech. The opening speech was given by Marijana Maksimović, from the Institute of Social Sciences, who was also the moderator.
Branko Milanovic is a Research Professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), at the Stone Center on Socioeconomic Inequality at CUNY, and Visiting Professor at the Institute for International Inequalities at the London School of Economics. Milanovic’s main area of work is income inequality, in individual countries and globally, including in pre-industrial societies.
