Western democratic powers are no longer the dominant external shapers of political transitions around the world. A new global marketplace of political change now exists, in which varied arrays of states, including numerous nondemocracies and non-Western democracies, are influencing transitional trajectories.

President Obama has called income inequality the “defining challenge of our time.” Many progressives blame the market economy and doubt John F. Kennedy’s view that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” In 2011 Mr. Obama chided those who believe “the market will take care of everything.” It’s a “simple theory,” he said. “It fits well on a bumper sticker. Here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It’s never worked.”

Former Econlog blogger Arnold Kling's latest post is titled "Why Did the South Not Converge?" In it, he quotes from a book by Ira Katznelson and goes on to suggest various factors behind the failure of per capita incomes in the northern and southern states to converge.