The Great Divide: How “Dual Economies” and Political Choices Shape Our Unequal World This episode reviews Chapter Thirteen of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin expands his analysis of the dual economy—defined by a prosperous FTE (finance, technology, and electronics) sector and a struggling low-wage sector—linking the decline of the American middle class to policies that disproportionately benefit the former. The chapter then broadens the scope to a global context, noting how inequality within countries has grown even as inequality between countries has narrowed, largely due to rapid economic growth in China and India. Temin stresses that political decisions and national histories are central to shaping economic outcomes and levels of inequality, highlighting contrasts between the United States and European nations. Ultimately, he argues that technological change and globalization have transformed labor markets and widened income gaps, but these forces are not inevitable. Instead, they are mediated—and often exacerbated—by political choices and societal priorities.