The Rise of the Global Middle Class: How the Search for the Good Life Can Change the World

Arguably the single most important economic development of the last half century has been the rise of the global middle class: over four billion individuals who are neither impoverished nor exceedingly rich and who can reasonably “aspire to enjoy the good life,” as Kharas puts it. Middle-class status, many social scientists have reasoned, is associated with fulfilling employment, the ability to support family and community, and, more broadly, satisfaction in life. Scholars have also associated the middle class with the preference for democracy over authoritarianism. Kharas cautions that although those dynamics may have been broadly true of the emergence of the middle class in the twentieth century in the West, these associations may not prevail in other times and places. Higher incomes do not guarantee life satisfaction. Consumerism entails the production of ever more goods at ever-lower prices, resulting in the loss of biodiversity, greater carbon emissions, and ecological destruction. The examples of China, Iran, and Turkey point to the tenuousness of the link between democratization and the rise of the middle classes. Kharas nonetheless concludes on a hopeful note, arguing that the global middle class can be a force for social and political good if its members press for decarbonization, spend their money on sustainable products, and support policies that foster social mobility and create decent jobs for all.