Can a correction of income distribution in OECD countries not be inflationary and therefore not trigger a financial crisis?
The current equilibrium in OECD countries has the following characteristics: income distribution is skewed against wage earners; the small wage increases lead to low interest rates, which allow for a very high debt ratio, while the rising debt is stimulating demand and thereby offsetting the small wage increases. It would be preferable to be in a different equilibrium with higher wages and lower debt. This alternative equilibrium would represent a lower risk of financial and social crisis. But the problem is the transition from the current equilibrium to this other preferable equilibrium. If the correction of income distribution in favour of employees leads to a return of inflation and higher interest rates, it will trigger a financial crisis, given the debt levels. In fact, everything depends on the required return on equity for shareholders. If wages rise faster and the required return on equity remains as high as it is today, inflation and interest rates will rise and there will be a financial crisis. For the correction of income distribution not to lead to a financial crisis, it would have to be accompanied by a decline in the required return on equity, which would allow wages to rise without rising inflation. It would therefore be a change in the requirements of capitalism: a lower required return on equity allowing an increase in the share of real wages in GDP without inflation .