essay economic inequality

Economic Inequality Essay

Economic Inequality, Inequality And Inequality

the OECD, the term inequality in the opposite of equity can be defined as evenness or fairness within the social, political, and economic perspectives. Equity forms the core value of both the western democratic tradition and religions. From the concept of equality, inequality can be described as unfair or uneven treatments of the people within the society or unequal distribution of resources, income, and other factors between different sectors in the society. Inequality can be defined as

Economic Inequality

Economic Inequality The sacred American tradition of free public education is in turmoil. The values, knowledge and creativity which forged America into the greatest nation of the world originated in the classroom. Classrooms which thrived in the past, are suffering in the present. Inequalities in the American education system are apparent and vivid; most prominent are those regarding income. Poverty’s relationship with education is parasitic, and the barrier its erecting between the student and

The Real Story Behind of Social Class and Economic Inequality in the United States We live in a day and age that is immensely affected by wealth distribution and the rapid growth of inequality. With the middle class disappearing as we speak and President Obama’s presidency coming to an end, many are curious about where America is headed next. The Center for Research on Globalization reports that “the yearly income of a US household dropped by a massive 12 percent, or $6,400, in the six years

Economic Inequality And Political Inequality

Economic inequality, also known as income inequality, is the interval between the rich and the poor. Economic inequality refers to how the total wealth in the United States is distributed among people in a social class. It is needed and it is important but due to the major gap difference, it affects the Democratic Party and in addition, it also affects Americans because they do not understand the actual wealth distribution. It is a major issue in the United States because it affects other economic

income increases in the United States. Economic inequality and political inequality may have a connection where our democracy could be affected but americans have the ability to solve this problem. Economic inequality refers to wealth or income between different groups or a society as a whole. There have been past social movements that have tried to improve this problem such as women's suffrage and more. We are still trying to resolve this issue of economic inequality. In the United States, high standard

Economic Inequality In America

Economic inequality reigns as a massive divide in the United States of America. Many active policies cause people to occupy an economic level which is meant to benefit those above them. With that said, there have been many efforts taken in hopes of reducing the current levels of economic inequality, but with these efforts, money and wealth will have to be taken from the rich to give to the poorer. This is where the problem lies with wealth inequality – many have to sacrifice for those whom they

Education And Economic Inequality

However, sociologists recognize that social stratification is a society-wide system that makes inequalities apparent” (Griffiths et al., 2016, p.188). There are many factors that drive social inequality; globalization and immigration, technology advances, the family you were born into, and even the education you received in pre-school. I feel the most important contributing factor is economic inequality. I consider this to be true not only for the United States, but globally as well. Both wealthy

The Importance Of Economic Inequality

However, economic inequality is not a new concept. Miles Corak points out in his 2012 essay the importance of understanding the dynamics of inequality over multiple generations and how this shapes current and future inequality. Corak highlights the disconnect in American society between believing one has “equality of opportunity,” and as a result, social mobility and capital, versus actually having access to economic opportunity greater than that of one’s parents. The interactions between the

The Economic Inequality Of Australia

Australia, although being a multicultural country where everyone is equal, there is a severe presence of economic inequality. With millions of people living poverty, Australia’s wealthy continue to accumulate wealth, whereas the poor continue to become poorer. With the economic inequality in Australia rising, the Australian government is contributing to this by creating new policies within the budget, making those who are disadvantaged already worse off. Rather than creating policies that make the

There is a problem plaguing the United States: economic inequality. The financial gap between the rich and poor is widening and it only continues to increase. Not only is the rich becoming richer but the poor is becoming poorer. If some type of change doesn't happen it will cut the middle class. Although this is not a concerning matter to some, to others it's a huge concern and it continues to be a daily problem. Because economic inequality hurts the United States economy, the government should take

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6 facts about economic inequality in the u.s..

Rising economic inequality in the United States has become a central issue in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, and discussions about policy interventions that might help address it are likely to remain at the forefront in the 2020 general election .

As these debates continue, here are some basic facts about how economic inequality has changed over time and how the U.S. compares globally.

For this analysis, we gathered data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Bank . We also used previously published data points from Pew Research Center surveys and analyses of outside data.

Over the past 50 years, the highest-earning 20% of U.S. households have steadily brought in a larger share of the country’s total income. In 2018, households in the top fifth of earners (with incomes of $130,001 or more that year) brought in 52% of all U.S. income, more than the lower four-fifths combined, according to Census Bureau data.

In 1968, by comparison, the top-earning 20% of households brought in 43% of the nation’s income, while those in the lower four income quintiles accounted for 56%.

Among the top 5% of households – those with incomes of at least $248,729 in 2018 – their share of all U.S. income rose from 16% in 1968 to 23% in 2018.

Income inequality in the U.S. is the highest of all the G7 nations , according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development . To compare income inequality across countries, the OECD uses the Gini coefficient , a commonly used measure ranging from 0, or perfect equality, to 1, or complete inequality. In 2017, the U.S. had a Gini coefficient of 0.434. In the other G7 nations, the Gini ranged from 0.326 in France to 0.392 in the UK.

Globally, the Gini ranges from lows of about 0.25 in some Eastern European countries to highs of 0.5 to 0.6 in countries in southern Africa, according to World Bank estimates .

The black-white income gap in the U.S. has persisted over time. The difference in median household incomes between white and black Americans has grown from about $23,800 in 1970 to roughly $33,000 in 2018 (as measured in 2018 dollars). Median black household income was 61% of median white household income in 2018, up modestly from 56% in 1970 – but down slightly from 63% in 2007, before the Great Recession , according to Current Population Survey data.

Overall, 61% of Americans say there is too much economic inequality in the country today, but views differ by political party and household income level. Among Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP, 41% say there is too much inequality in the U.S., compared with 78% of Democrats and Democratic leaners, a Pew Research Center survey conducted in September 2019 found.

Across income groups, U.S. adults are about equally likely to say there is too much economic inequality. But upper- (27%) and middle-income Americans (26%) are more likely than those with lower incomes (17%) to say that there is about the right amount of economic inequality.

These views also vary by income within the two party coalitions. Lower-income Republicans are more likely than upper-income ones to say there’s too much inequality in the country today (48% vs. 34%). Among Democrats, the reverse is true: 93% at upper-income levels say there is too much inequality, compared with 65% of lower-income Democrats.

The wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016, according to a recent analysis by the Center. Another way of measuring inequality is to look at household wealth, also known as net worth, or the value of assets owned by a family, such as a home or a savings account, minus outstanding debt, such as a mortgage or student loan.

In 1989, the richest 5% of families had 114 times as much wealth as families in the second quintile (one tier above the lowest), at the median $2.3 million compared with $20,300. By 2016, the top 5% held 248 times as much wealth at the median. (The median wealth of the poorest 20% is either zero or negative in most years we examined.)

The richest families are also the only ones whose wealth increased in the years after the start of the Great Recession. From 2007 to 2016, the median net worth of the top 20% increased 13%, to $1.2 million. For the top 5%, it increased by 4%, to $4.8 million. In contrast, the median net worth of families in lower tiers of wealth decreased by at least 20%. Families in the second-lowest fifth experienced a 39% loss (from $32,100 in 2007 to $19,500 in 2016).

Middle-class incomes have grown at a slower rate than upper-tier incomes over the past five decades, the same analysis found . From 1970 to 2018, the median middle-class income increased from $58,100 to $86,600, a gain of 49%. By comparison, the median income for upper-tier households grew 64% over that time, from $126,100 to $207,400.

The share of American adults who live in middle-income households has decreased from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2019. During this time, the share of adults in the upper-income tier increased from 14% to 20%, and the share in the lower-income tier increased from 25% to 29%.

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Trust in America: How do Americans view economic inequality?

Americans’ views about billionaires have grown somewhat more negative since 2020, first-generation college graduates lag behind their peers on key economic outcomes, racial and ethnic gaps in the u.s. persist on key demographic indicators, in the pandemic, the share of unpartnered moms at work fell more sharply than among other parents, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Page One Economics ®

Income and wealth inequality.

"For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America's prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class." 

—President Barack Obama 1

Introduction

There are many different types of inequality among people: educational attainment, work experience, and health—to name a few. This essay discusses economic inequality: its causes, measurement, and the potential impact of its growth in the U.S. economy.

Economists directly link differences in educational attainment and work experience, also known as human capital, to differences in economic outcomes. That is, formal education and job skills determine how likely a person is to find and hold a stable job that pays good wages. The flow of money from wages is the most important source of income for most people. Over time, regular income from employment allows people to own assets such as a home or a retirement financial portfolio. That stock of assets is called wealth .

Data collected by federal organizations such as the Census Bureau and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (BOG) allow us to measure how unequal the distributions of income and wealth are in the United States. Those data show that, since the 1970s, some individuals and families are earning much more income and accumulating much larger amounts of wealth than the typical family does. 

Data reported by the World Bank allow us to compare the distribution of income across countries. As of 2018, the available data show large international differences in income inequality. Although not all countries in the world have data on income inequality, among those that do, the United States ranks among the top 25% most unequal.

What Causes Inequality?

The root cause of differences in income and wealth across individuals and households is a combination of personal and social factors. Personal factors are unique to individuals and include talent, effort, and luck. Such factors can be either nurtured or hindered by the family upbringing of the individual. Social factors affect groups of people and include education policies, labor market laws, tax codes, and financial regulations. At any moment in time, social factors can overpower personal factors to determine individual prosperity and increase inequality among people. 2

For example, as gradually more married women started working outside the home between 1960 and 2000, their family incomes increased and the differences in income between households became larger depending on whether they had one or two people earning wages. At the same time, differences in the types of jobs women and men tend to hold also contribute to income inequality between genders. 3

Because wealth is accumulated over time, older people are generally wealthier than younger people. For that reason, if there are many more young people than old people in the general population and the old hold more wealth than the young, overall wealth inequality will be high. 4

Finally, some people argue that the type of monetary policy used to ensure steady access to credit by households and businesses during recent economic contractions may contribute to higher levels of income inequality. However, that claim is hotly disputed. 5

How Is Income Inequality Measured?

There are different ways to measure how unequal income is in a country. The U.S. Census measures income inequality as the ratio of the mean, or average, income for the highest quintile (top 20 percent) of earners divided by the mean income of the lowest quintile (bottom 20 percent) of earners in a particular area. Let's say a small county has 500 people earning an income. To measure how unequal those incomes are, the Census surveys and sorts each person's income from highest to lowest, calculates the average income of the 100 people earning the most and the average income of the 100 people earning the least, and divides the first figure by the second figure. 

Figure 1 Income Inequality by County 

SOURCE: U.S. Census via FRED ® , Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?m=QRCJ , accessed June 23, 2021.

Figure 1 shows average county-level income inequality measured between 2016 and 2020. The Census considers the average income over a five-year period to account for the fact that peoples' income changes from year to year. Measured this way, income inequality can be as high as 130 or as low as 5. These measurements mean that the most affluent households in a particular county can earn as much as 130 times or as little as 5 times as much as the least affluent households do.

Another way to measure income inequality in a population is to calculate the Gini index . The World Bank uses that index to measure how much the distribution of income among households deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. The Gini index can take any value between 0 and 100. A value of 0 represents perfect equality: All households earn the same income. A value of 100 indicates perfect inequality: One household earns all the income, and all other households earn nothing.

Figure 2 Gini Index by Nation

SOURCE: World Bank via FRED ® , Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?m=QRFh , accessed April 6, 2021.

Figure 2 shows country-level income inequality measured with a Gini index in 2018. The highest value is 54, and the lowest value is 25. It is important to note that two countries can have very similar Gini indexes despite having very different distributions of income. For example, in 2018, the Gini index for the United States was 41.4 and for Bulgaria was 41.3, despite the fact that those two countries' economic and social histories are very different.

In the United States, since the 1970s, the Gini index has increased at a steady rate, indicating greater income inequality across families. 6 Some research suggests that this growing difference is related to the increased value of the stock market. Wealthier households hold more stocks than poorer households. So, when stock market prices rise, the income of wealthier households grows relatively more and overall income inequality increases. 7  

How Is Wealth Inequality Measured?

The BOG combines information from two different surveys to measure how wealth is distributed among households: It takes the value of a household's assets (e.g., the current market price of a home) and liabilities (e.g., the unpaid part of a mortgage for a home) and calculates the difference between the two, which is called net worth . Next, the BOG sorts household wealth from highest to lowest and reports the net worth of four different groups: the wealthiest 1% of the population, the next 9%, the next 40%, and the bottom 50%.

Figure 3 Share of Total Net Worth Held by Population Groups

SOURCE: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System via FRED ® , Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=O2Kq , accessed April 6, 2021.

Figure 3 shows the share of total net worth held by each of those four groups. In 2021, the wealthiest 1% of the population (about 3.3 million households) held about one-third of total net worth; the next 9% (almost 30 million households) held a little more than one-third; the next 40% (about 133 million households) and the bottom 50% (about 166 million households) together held the rest—less than one-third of total net worth.

The data from the BOG show increasing wealth concentration since 1989, when the data first became available. 8 It is important to note that, over time, some individual households can move up or down between wealth groups, depending on the changing value of their assets. Also, some research suggests the particular nature of some economic fluctuations impacts some households' net worth more than others. For example, the real estate crash associated with the 2007-09 recession resulted in large losses for the poorest 50% of the population. 9

Does Inequality Matter?

The economic impact of growing income and wealth inequality in the United States is an intensely studied question. Economists are debating how to answer that question by analyzing data and creating mathematical models to study it. Because this is ongoing work, there is no single answer.

Some research shows that, in richer countries, more unequal income makes economic fluctuations more pronounced. 10 That finding means that the changes in overall income and employment known as business cycles become more dramatic. Moreover, statistical evidence suggests increased income inequality undermines economic growth due to lower educational achievements (and human capital) among poorer individuals and households. 11 As discussed earlier, education builds a person's human capital and is rewarded with higher income from employment. Finally, research suggests the increasing income and wealth inequality can undermine the use of monetary policy (as we know it) to maximize employment and ensure price stability. 12  

Inequality in individual economic outcomes arises from a combination of personal traits and social conditions. The distributions of income and wealth in a society can be measured in multiple ways: comparing the highest to the lowest earners, calculating an index describing how unequal income is among all individuals, and assessing people's financial wellbeing according to the value of their wealth holdings. Regardless of how we measure income and wealth inequality, their distributions in the United States are becoming more unequal. This trend is likely to impact economic life as we know it. More research is needed to figure out precisely how that may happen.

1 Obama, Barack. "Inaugural Address." January 21, 2013; https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/01/21/inaugural-address-president-barack-obama .

2 For an example of how the use of city maps to assess lending risk after the Great Depression influenced homeownership rates across population groups for decades afterward, see the following article: Mendez-Carbajo, Diego. "Neighborhood Redlining, Racial Segregation, and Homeownership." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Page One Economics , September 2021; https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2021/09/01/neighborhood-redlining-racial-segregation-and-homeownership .

3 For more on gender and labor markets, see the following article: Mendez-Carbajo, Diego. "Gender and Labor Markets." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Page One Economics , January 2022; https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2022/01/03/gender-and-labor-markets .

4 For more on aging and wealth inequality, see the following article: Vandenbroucke, Guillaume and Zhu, Heting. "Aging and Wealth Inequality." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Synopses , 2017, No. 2; https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2017/02/24/aging-and-wealth-inequality/ .

5 For a contribution to the ongoing debate about the relationship between monetary policy and income inequality, see the following article: Bullard, James. "Income Inequality and Monetary Policy: A Framework with Answers to Three Questions." Presented at the C. Peter McColough Series on International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, June 26, 2014; http://research.stlouisfed.org/econ/bullard/pdf/Bullard_CFR_26June2014_Final.pdf .

6 The following FRED® graph shows the income Gini ratio of all families, reported by the U.S. Census Bureau since 1947: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=MKYg .

7 For more on income inequality and the stock market, see the following articles: 

Bennett, Julie and Chien, YiLi. "The Large Gap in Stock Market Participation Between Black and White Households." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Synopses , 2022, No. 7; https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2022/03/28/the-large-gap-in-stock-market-participation-between-black-and-white-households/ . 

Owyang, Michael T. and Shell, Hannah G. "Taking Stock: Income Inequality and the Stock Market." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Synopses , 2016, No. 7; https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2016/04/29/taking-stock-income-inequality-and-the-stock-market/ .

8 For more about the change in wealth distribution over time, see the following post: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. "Comparing the Assets of the Rich, Poor, and Middle Class." FRED ® Blog , October 21, 2019; https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2019/10/comparing-the-assets-of-the-rich-poor-and-middle-class/ .

9 For more on how recessions impact household net worth, see the following article: Mendez-Carbajo, Diego. "How Recessions Have Affected Household Net Worth, 1990-2017: Uneven Experiences by Wealth Quantile." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Synopses , 2020, No. 38; https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2020/08/07/how-recessions-have-affected-household-net-worth-1990-2017-uneven-experiences-by-wealth-quantile .

10 For more on the relationship between inequality and economic fluctuations, see the following article: Iyigun, Murat F. and Owen, Ann L. "Income Inequality and Macroeconomic Fluctuations." Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System International Finance Discussion Papers , July 1997; https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/ifdp/income-inequality-and-macroeconomic-fluctuations.htm .

11 For more on the relationship between income inequality and economic growth, see the following article: Cingano, Federico. "Trends in Income Inequality and its Impact on Economic Growth." Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD Social, Employment, and Migration Working Papers , 2014, No. 163; https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/trends-in-income-inequality-and-its-impact-on-economic-growth-sem-wp163.pdf .

12 For more on the relationship between income inequality and monetary policy, see the following article: Cairo, Isabel and Sim, Jae W. "Income Inequality, Financial Crises, and Monetary Policy." Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Finance and Economics Discussion Series , July 2018; https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/income-inequality-financial-crises-and-monetary-policy.htm .

© 2022, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or the Federal Reserve System.

Asset: A resource with economic value that an individual, corporation, or country owns with the expectation that it will provide future benefits.

Gini index: A statistical measure of income inequality in a population that ranges from 0 (indicating absolute income equality) to 100 (indicating a perfectly inequal income distribution).

Household: A group of people living in the same home, regardless of their relationship to one another.

Income: The payment people receive for providing resources in the marketplace. When people work, they provide human resources (labor) and in exchange they receive income in the form of wages or salaries. People also earn income in the forms of rent, profit, and interest.

Liability: A legal responsibility to pay back money from a loan or other type of debt.

Net worth: The value of a person's assets minus the value of his or her liabilities.

Quintile: Any of five equal groups into which a population can be divided according to the distribution of values of a particular variable.

Wealth: The value of a person's assets accumulated over time.

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Economic inequality refers to disparities among individuals' incomes and wealth. And those differences can be great. Forbes counted a record 2,755 billionaires in the world as of 2021, when it finalized its most recent rankings. Meanwhile, the World Bank estimated that in 2021 more than 711 million people globally were living on less than $1.90 per day. That's actually a big improvement from 1990, when over 1.9 billion people lived in extreme poverty and the world had only 269 billionaires.

Some will look at these numbers as evidence that a rising tide lifts all boats. Over the past 30 years, global wealth has increased; overall, living standards have improved. And others will look at these numbers and think it's inexcusable that anyone lives in poverty when the world's billionaires are worth a combined $13.1 trillion. Of course, both statements can be simultaneously true.

Disparities like these—and the ones many people see in their everyday lives, where people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity live in tent cities only miles from fancy condos—give rise to questions about economic inequality. What is it? How and why does it happen? Is it the natural order of things, or is the system rigged? Should attempts be made to make things more equal—for instance, by increasing taxes on higher incomes , as Sweden has? And is the pandemic going to make this inequality worse?

We don't have the answers. The causes of economic inequality are multifarious, and our society hasn't reached a consensus on what, if anything, to do about it, with political deadlock keeping things as status quo for the time being. What we can offer is some background and insight on the state of economic inequality in this country.

Key Takeaways

• A basic definition of economic inequality refers to the disparities in incomes and wealth in a society.
• Most Americans believe in meritocracy, the idea that people advance in wealth and status through hard work, not privilege, but inequality of opportunity can limit upward mobility.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted economic inequalities. Chronically marginalized groups are contracting and dying from the virus at higher rates, and those who can't afford health insurance—as well as workers in demanding and dangerous but low-paid "essential" jobs—are at greater risk.
• Well-educated and well-informed people disagree about whether economic inequality should be reduced, to what extent, and through what means.

The essence of economic equality is how much money the least well off make compared to the most well off—and how wealth is distributed in a society. What assets do people own to tide them over during difficult times and to help them invest in new opportunities? These differences matter for several reasons.

Let's look first at the psychological aspect of economic inequality. We all compare ourselves to others. How satisfied we are with our income or net worth depends not just on how low or high those figures are, nor purely on what we can buy with our incomes or how comfortable our wealth makes us.

Instead, our satisfaction depends, in part, on how our income and wealth compare to that of others: our neighbors, colleagues, friends, siblings, classmates, and bosses. Let's take an accountant we'll call Lorenzo as an example. Lorenzo may be perfectly happy earning $70,000 a year in his accounting job—but only until he learns that his colleague and fellow accountant Sebastian is earning $80,000. The inequality feels unfair. It makes him unhappy; maybe even angry.

Lorenzo confronts Sebastian, asking him what he's doing to earn an extra $10k a year. He points out that they both have the same amount of experience, they started working at the firm at around the same time, and they do the same job.

In response, Sebastian says that it's a bigger deal that their CEO earns $60 million. Plus, their friend Marco, who works in customer service through a contractor their firm hires, only makes $20 an hour and doesn't get the same benefits as they do. No health insurance. No 401(k). Only 10 days of paid time off per year, and he has to choose between using those for vacation, personal time, or sick leave.

A big driver of economic inequality is a persistent wealth and income gap observed between men and women and with whites and non-whites. While these gaps have been closing in recent years, pervasive racism beginning with slavery and continuing through the Jim Crow era has led to enormous inequalities between white and black households that remain to this day.

Lorenzo has an explanation for Marco's position and pay. Marco didn't go to college, whereas Lorenzo and Sebastian worked hard in high school and got into good universities. On top of that, they both became certified public accountants , which meant putting in a lot of extra work, taking extra exams, and spending a lot of money to get their certifications. It wouldn't make sense for Marco to earn $75,000. He didn't do any of that. That's the way the system works.

Most Americans would agree. They would say that even though Lorenzo and Sebastian are both single and Marco is supporting his partner and two children—so, arguably, Marco needs the higher income more than Lorenzo and Sebastian do—they don't like the idea of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." That's the communist credo, and communism, after taking hold in the Soviet Union in 1917, led to millions of government-ordered executions, mass starvation, war, and widespread human misery. (However, there are those who would argue that the problem is not the communist philosophy itself, but its historical implementation under brutal dictators.)

Back to our accountants. Lorenzo doesn't think it's fair to give $15,000 of his $70,000 salary to Marco so they can each earn an equal $55,000 a year. Sebastian doesn't want to give up that kind of money, either. Although he doesn't have a partner or kids, he does have a mortgage to pay, and he wants to go back to school to earn an MBA . That's not cheap. He doesn't want to support someone else's kids. If he were only going to earn $55,000 a year, he wouldn't have bothered to become a CPA.

How Does Economic Inequality Happen?

We've seen that one reason economic inequality is a problem is that we compare ourselves to others. We feel bad when we find out that other people have more than we do, especially when we're similar to those people. People need incentives to work hard, and they feel they deserve to keep what they earn. They also believe in meritocracy, the idea that people advance in wealth and status through hard work, not through privilege. But how would Lorenzo and Sebastian feel if they learned more about Marco's life story?

Marco grew up in a semi-rural community. The schools he attended were slightly below average, and he didn't have any choice about where to get his education. His dad stocked shelves at the local grocery store. His mom was a restaurant server. Neither of his parents finished high school. They couldn't help him with his homework. They often worked nights and weekends. Marco's grandparents watched him during those times, and he played with the neighborhood kids. In high school, he got a job as a busboy at the restaurant where his mom worked. His friends were good kids, but none of them ever talked about going to college. Most adults in their lives were not college graduates. No one expected Marco or his friends to go to college or enter a white-collar profession.

Lorenzo and Sebastian both grew up in cities. Sebastian's parents lived in an upper-middle-class neighborhood with great public schools. Lorenzo's parents took advantage of a school choice program to get him into better schools. Both boys' teachers saw promise in them and encouraged them to take advanced classes. They didn't always get straight As, but they did get good enough grades to get into name-brand colleges. Plus, all their friends were going to college. Their teachers expected them to go and helped them prepare.

For these three men, inequality of opportunity led to where they are today. None of them did anything wrong. Nor did their parents do anything wrong. But Sebastian benefited from the intergenerational wealth that allowed him to grow up in a nice area with quality schools. Lorenzo benefited from having access to those schools and growing up alongside kids like Sebastian whose parents expected their children to attend college and pursue corporate careers with good pay and benefits. Marco had none of these advantages.

This example is just one way economic inequality can happen. However, it happens, the life consequences are substantial.

Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Exposed Economic Inequality

The everyday threat of COVID-19—a highly contagious, sometimes deadly virus that no one is known to have lasting immunity to—has made more people aware of the economic inequalities in our society. Examples are accumulating: There's the legacy of abuse and marginalization of Latinx Americans, black Americans, and Native Americans, all groups getting infected and dying from the virus at rates far higher than whites. And there's the low pay received by workers in demanding and dangerous jobs. Meat processors and slaughterers, who earn a mean hourly wage of $15.00 as of May 2020 ($31,210 annually), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, have been disproportionately infected by COVID-19 outbreaks at work.

On March 19, 2020, Christopher Krebs, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, issued a memorandum identifying the "essential critical infrastructure workers," commonly referred to as "essential workers," whose jobs are key for protecting public health and safety and economic and national security. "The industries they support represent, but are not necessarily limited to, medical and healthcare, telecommunications, information technology systems, defense, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, energy, water and wastewater, law enforcement, and public works," the memo states.

This list is not a mandate, but it provides advice to the states on who should keep going to work and who should stay home to help prevent the spread of the disease. The goal? To "flatten the curve," to avoid overwhelming the healthcare system such that sick people cannot receive potentially life-saving treatment. The memo also encourages remote work where possible and provides strategies to reduce the spread of disease among those who cannot work remotely.

Following the release of a memo from Homeland Security regarding essential workers and COVID, there's been evidence that many employers have not provided adequate protection to keep essential workers from catching and spreading COVID-19. In part, the problem can be attributed to the global lack of pandemic preparedness and, according to national press reports, massive shortages in personal protective equipment, even for medical providers. But what is also evident is that economic inequality has made a bad situation much worse for many workers.

Some have continued going to their high-risk jobs because they feel they have no choice: Their families rely on their wages. A 62-year-old California woman told the Los Angeles Times how she kept going to her $13.58-an-hour job washing laundry at a nursing home even though her husband, who has underlying heart problems, didn't want her to. She said she had to support her family; they all got the virus.

Situations like these have led some to say that those deemed essential workers are really being treated as expendable workers. Hazard pay, where it's been offered, has been deemed insufficient; it may also soon prove temporary. Some employers, perhaps most notoriously airlines, have even forbidden their workers to wear face masks and kept them in the dark about on-the-job exposure to the virus.

Some people have gone to work with COVID-19 symptoms because their employers don't provide the pay, benefits, or sick leave they need to take time off and get healthcare. Millions have been forced into unemployment by stay-at-home orders, so while they may be safer from the coronavirus, they don't have money to pay their bills unless they have robust emergency savings, and most people don't . The unemployed also may not have health insurance to get treatment if they get sick, since affordable, high-quality health insurance in the United States is often tied to employment, even with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Let's return to the story of our fictional workers. Marco, a customer service representative at an office that has closed down due to the pandemic, is technically able to work from home. But the company doesn't have enough work for all its reps because business has slowed so much. So he has been let go and is struggling to collect unemployment compensation from an overloaded system. Meanwhile, Lorenzo and Sebastian have continued to perform their well-paid accounting jobs from home. They also still have the health insurance that their employer never offered Marco because he works through a contractor and is not an employee of the firm. He does have an Affordable Care Act exchange plan, but he's not sure how he'll keep paying the premiums.

Going without health insurance is a huge risk for anyone, but it's an extra risk for Marco, who suffers from asthma. In fact, so do lots of the people he grew up with, maybe because many of their parents smoked, maybe because the outdoor air quality downwind of the chemical plant near their neighborhood was poor. Lorenzo and Sebastian didn't have these disadvantages. They've also got some luck on their side, and they don't have underlying health conditions.

This is yet another aspect of economic inequality that's become starker due to the pandemic: the higher prevalence of underlying health conditions such as asthma and high blood pressure in lower-income individuals and people of color because they are marginalized their entire lives. These populations are at an even more elevated risk of dying in the pandemic because their underlying health conditions predispose them to adverse outcomes from COVID-19 and they're also more likely to be exposed to it at work.

Is economic inequality something we should try to fix? In the United States, this question has become a heated political issue. It encompasses issues such as progressive taxation , universal healthcare coverage , unemployment insurance , basic income , Medicaid , and COBRA health insurance . Some people think the United States should adopt more elements of the Nordic model and strengthen its social safety net. Others feel this model is too socialist and prefer a more capitalist model . They don't want to pay the higher taxes that would be required to fund more social programs, and they argue that filling the gaps through the work of private charities is a better solution.

A 2018 academic study found that a combination of both taxes and charitable giving is necessary to meet a community's needs. It also found that Republicans and Democrats differ in the total amount of income redistribution they think society needs and the amount they're willing to allocate to taxes versus donations.

Most people are willing to pay taxes, but they differ in how much they're willing to pay to reduce economic inequality. Lorenzo and Sebastian like to think that the taxes they're paying on the money they are still earning are helping people like Marco right now through federal and state income security programs. Some of their tax dollars also help support their grandparents through Social Security and Medicare .

In addition, Lorenzo and Sebastian are each currently donating 10% of their pay to local nonprofits that are helping people who are unemployed get through the pandemic. They feel a need to contribute to their local community since part of the reason they're able to keep working comes down to luck, and they don't think others who are out of work should suffer because of bad luck.

Economic inequality is a tricky issue. Some level of inequality may be natural. Marco didn't choose the circumstances he was born into any more than Lorenzo and Sebastian did. But societal forces may have determined the circumstances they were born into, then perpetuated their unequal circumstances, even as other forces also helped Marco get a job that pays relatively well for someone without a college degree. But then, why shouldn't Marco have had access to the same opportunities his coworkers did? The issues of fairness and equality of opportunity lie beneath the issue of economic inequality and the degree to which it's natural, inevitable, acceptable, or even desirable. It's up to each of us to decide what we want economic equality or inequality to look like, then vote and spend our dollars accordingly.

Forbes. " World's Billionaires List: The Richest in 2021 ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

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Forbes. " The World's Billionaires: 25th Anniversary Timeline ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

World Bank Group. " Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle ," Page 2. Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

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U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. " 51-3023, Slaughterers and Meat Packers ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security. " Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19 Response ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

Vox. " 'I Did Not Sign Up for the Military. I Signed Up for Walmart' ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

New York Times. " 'At War With No Ammo’: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

Los Angeles Times. " The Price of Being 'Essential': Latino Workers Bear Brunt of Coronavirus ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

Milwaukee Independent. " Expendable Workers: Being Called 'Essential' Only Describes the Work and Not the People Doing It ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

Los Angeles Times. " 15 Deaths in the Airline Industry in 9 Days Linked to Coronavirus. Why Are Planes Still Flying? " Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

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Economic Policy Institute. " Not Everybody Can Work From Home ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

Sage Journals. " The Politics of Donations: Are Red Counties More Donative Than Blue Counties? " Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

The New York Times. " How Political Ideology Influences Charitable Giving ." Accessed Nov. 19, 2021.

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Is Economic Inequality Really a Problem?

Yes, but the answer is less obvious than you might think.

By Samuel Scheffler

Dr. Scheffler is a professor of philosophy.

It is impossible to ignore the stark disparities of income and wealth that prevail in this country, and a great many of us are troubled by this state of affairs.

But is economic inequality really what bothers us? An influential essay published in 1987 by the philosopher Harry Frankfurt suggests that we have misidentified the problem. Professor Frankfurt argued that it does not matter whether some people have less than others. What matters is that some people do not have enough. They lack adequate income, have little or no wealth and do not enjoy decent housing, health care or education. If even the worst-off people had enough resources to lead good and fulfilling lives, then the fact that others had still greater resources would not be troubling.

When some people don’t have enough and others have vastly more than they need, it is easy to conclude that the problem is one of inequality. But this, according to Professor Frankfurt, is a mistake. The problem isn’t inequality as such. It’s the poverty and deprivation suffered by those who have least.

Professor Frankfurt’s essay didn’t persuade all his fellow philosophers, many of whom remained egalitarians. But his challenge continued to resonate and, in 2015, even as concerns about economic inequality were growing in many corners of society, he published a short book in which he reaffirmed his position.

And Professor Frankfurt, it seems, has a point. Those in the top 10 percent of America’s economic distribution are in a very comfortable position. Those in the top 1 percent are in an even more comfortable position than those in the other 9 percent. But few people find this kind of inequality troubling. Inequality bothers us most, it seems, only when some are very rich and others are very poor.

Even when the worst-off people are very poor, moreover, it wouldn’t be an improvement to reduce everyone else to their level. Equality would then prevail, but equal misery is hardly an ideal worth striving for.

So perhaps we shouldn’t object to economic inequality as such. Instead, we should just try to improve the position of those who have least. We should work to eliminate poverty, hunger, bad schools, substandard housing and inadequate medical care. But we shouldn’t make the elimination of inequality our aim.

Is this the correct conclusion? I think not. Economic inequality matters a great deal whether or not it matters “as such.”

Start by considering two points that Professor Frankfurt himself would accept. First, to succeed in eliminating poverty and securing decent conditions of life for all Americans would require raising taxes on the rich significantly. Although the ultimate purpose would not be to reduce inequality, the indirect effect would be to do just that. So even if inequality as such is not the problem, reducing inequality is almost certainly part of the solution.

Second, even if economic inequality is not a problem in and of itself, it can still have bad effects. Great disparities of income and wealth, of the kind we see in the United States today, can have damaging effects even when nobody is badly off in absolute terms. For example, the wealthiest may be able to exert a disproportionate share of political influence and to shape society in conformity with their interests. They may be able to make the law work for them rather than for everyone, and so undermine the rule of law. Enough economic inequality can transform a democracy into a plutocracy, a society ruled by the rich.

Large inequalities of inherited wealth can be particularly damaging, creating, in effect, an economic caste system that inhibits social mobility and undercuts equality of opportunity.

Extreme inequality can also have subtler and more insidious effects, which are especially pronounced when those who have the least are also poor and lack adequate resources, but which may persist even if everyone has enough. The rich may persuade themselves that they fully deserve their enormous wealth and develop attitudes of entitlement and privilege. Those who have less may develop feelings of inferiority and deference, on the one hand, and hostility and resentment on the other. In this way, extreme inequality can distort people’s view of themselves and compromise their relations with one another.

This brings us to a more fundamental point. The great political philosopher John Rawls thought that a liberal society should conceive of itself as a fair system of cooperation among free and equal people. Often, it seems, we do like to think of ourselves that way. We know that our society has always been blighted by grave injustices, beginning with the great moral catastrophe of slavery, but we aspire to create a society of equals, and we are proud of the steps we have taken toward that ideal.

But extreme inequality makes a mockery of our aspiration. In a society marked by the spectacular inequalities of income and wealth that have emerged in the United States in the past few decades, there is no meaningful sense in which all citizens, rich and poor alike, can nevertheless relate to one another on an equal footing. Even if poverty were eliminated and everyone had enough resources to lead a decent life, that would not by itself transform American citizenship into a relationship among equals. There is a limit to the degree of economic inequality that is compatible with the ideal of a society of equals and, although there is room for disagreement about where exactly the limit lies, it is clear that we have long since exceeded it.

If extreme economic inequality undermines the ideal of a society of equals, then is that merely one of its bad effects, like its corrupting influence on the political process? Or, instead, is that simply what it is for economic inequality to matter as such?

For practical purposes, it doesn’t make much difference which answer we give. In either case, the imperative that Professor Frankfurt identified — the imperative to ensure that all citizens have enough resources to lead decent lives — is of the utmost importance. It is appalling that so many people in a society as wealthy as ours continue to lack adequate housing, nutrition, medical care and education, and do not enjoy the full benefits of the rule of law. But addressing Professor Frankfurt’s imperative is not enough. Extreme economic inequality, whether it matters as such or “merely” for its effects, is pernicious. It threatens to transform us from a democracy into a plutocracy, and it makes a mockery of the ideal of equal citizenship.

If, as they say, every crisis is an opportunity, then America today is truly the land of opportunity. Of the many opportunities with which our current crises have presented us, one of the most basic is the opportunity to rethink our conception of ourselves as a society. Going forward, we must decide whether we wish to constitute ourselves as a genuine society of equals or, alternatively, whether we are content to have our relations with one another structured by an increasingly stark and unforgiving economic and social hierarchy.

Samuel Scheffler is a professor of philosophy and law at New York University and the author, most recently, of “Why Worry About Future Generations?”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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• Journal of Economic Literature

Inequality and Globalization: A Review Essay

• Martin Ravallion
• Article Information

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JEL Classification

• F63 Economic Impacts of Globalization: Economic Development

2014 Theses Doctoral

Essays on Economic Inequality

Prados, María José

This dissertation consists of three chapters on different aspects of economic inequality. In the first chapter, I study the aggregate implications of health risk and access to health care. At the individual level, health influences earnings potential, while income affects access to medical care. I investigate how this interaction shapes the joint dynamics of inequality in health and earnings over the life cycle, and I measure the redistributive impact of policies that improve access to health care. For that, I introduce health shocks and health care spending in an incomplete markets model with heterogeneous agents. Earnings risk is partially determined within the model due to the health-income feedback, and negative shocks may drive agents into a low income-low health trap, thus magnifying inequality along the life cycle. I estimate the process for health shocks and I calibrate the key parameters of the model using survey data. The calibrated model successfully reproduces the joint dynamics in health and earnings inequality in the life cycle. Like in the data, it predicts that life cycle inequality in health is driven by a sharp decline in health status for the lowest percentiles of the health distribution. I find that the health-income feedback accounts for 9 percent of total earnings inequality at retirement age as measured by the coefficient of variation of earnings, and that it increases by almost seven times the persistence of shocks to productivity. I also find that health care policies that facilitate access to health care have redistributive effects, mostly through earnings improvements for those at the bottom of the earnings distribution. The second chapter, joint with Stefania Albanesi, studies the connection between recent trends in earnings inequality and the behavior of labor supply of married women in the U.S. The entry of married women into the labor force and the rise in women's relative wages are amongst the most notable economic developments of the twentieth century. These phenomena were particularly pronounced in the 1970s and 1980s, when participation of married women grew from 38\% in 1975 to a peak of 60\% in 1996 and the male to female ratio in hourly wages dropped from 1.60 to 1.34. Since the early 1990s, the growth in these indicators has stalled, especially for college graduates. This development is puzzling in light of the continued rise in women's educational investments relative to men and their entry into professional occupations. In this paper, we link the decline in married women's participation and wages relative to trend since the early 1990s to the growth of the skill premium, which substantially accelerated in those years. Our hypothesis is that the growth in wages for highly educated men generated a negative wealth effect on the labor supply of their female spouses, reducing their labor supply and their wages relative to men. Disaggregated evidence on skill premia by gender, gender wage gaps by education and labor force participation of wives provides descriptive support for this mechanism. Specifically, starting in the early 1990s, the growth in the skill premium was lower for women, while convergence in wages across gender slowed more for college graduates. Finally, participation of married women declined starting in the early 1990s especially for college women, women married to men with a college degree or to men in the top percentiles of the earnings distribution. We develop a model of household labor supply which can qualitatively reproduce a negative effect on wives' participation of a rise in husbands' earnings. We show that a calibrated version of the model can account for more than half the decline relative to trend in married women's participation in 1995-2005, and more than two thirds for college women. The model can also account for one third of the rise in the gender wage gap for college graduates relative to trend in the same period. In the third chapter I study the dynamics of earnings risk and inequality over the life cycle for women, and document the gender differences in earnings stochastic processes faced by workers. Female workers have a weaker average attachment to the labor force than their male counterparts, and career interruptions have an impact on earnings. Therefore, it is to be expected that the average earnings process differ by gender, and in this paper I study if this is the case. The main empirical gender asymmetries I find in the profiles of earnings are: i) inequality is lower amongst women than amongst men, ii) inequality peaks twice over the life cycle for women: once during the fertile years, and the again later at retirement age, iii) the differences in inequality evolution between educational groups are larger for men than for women. I estimate the statistical properties of the earnings process, with and without heterogeneity in age profiles, and find that the specification without profile heterogeneity seems to fit the female workers dynamics better.

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The inequality-growth nexus: It’s time to move beyond averages

• Reto Foellmi
• Enea Baselgia

The relationship between inequality and economic growth is at the heart of economics. After around 30 years of extensive empirical research that has found significant positive and nega-tive effects, a clear consensus has not yet been reached. This column summarises the recent literature and argues that a critical and potentially fruitful next step is to move beyond the use of averages in the empirical inequality–growth research, and most importantly to do so on both sides of the equation.

In the wake of the profound shifts in the distribution of income and wealth both within and across countries in the latter half of the 20th century (e.g. Milanovic 2020, Chancel et al. 2021, Kanbur et al. 2022), the relevance of inequality as an object of study has surged and is now back at the heart of economic analysis. This is equally true of the recent growth literature, which has produced a variety of theoretical channels and an enormous volume (and range) of empirical results on the relationship between inequality and growth, which we discuss at length in Baselgia and Foellmi (2022). 1

The relationship between inequality and growth can be analysed from three angles. First, growth and inequality can be joint outcomes of market interactions and economic policies (e.g. Lundberg and Squire 2003, Dorn and Levell 2022). In particular, government interventions—especially taxation (e.g. Rebelo 1991, Akcigit et al. 2015) and the provision of public goods such as education (e.g. Goldin and Katz 2010)—are arguably key factors affecting inequality and growth simultaneously. Secondly, growth may alter inequality. The Kuznets curve hypothesis is the most famous articulation of this connection and posits an increase in inequality at early stages followed by a decrease at more mature stages of development. Several arguments like demand complementarities or access to investment (e.g. Aghion and Bolton 1997) have been brought forward to explain the latter trickledown mechanism. And thirdly, inequality can affect growth. This is the causal relationship that this column addresses. But, before thinking about how to identify the effect from inequality to growth, one has to decide how to define the two concepts.

Economic inequality can be measured along several dimensions: (top) incomes, wages, consumption, wealth, land, effort, or opportunity. The empirical literature has predominantly used the concept for which the most extensive and highest quality datasets were available, i.e. primarily income (see Table 1 in Baselgia and Foellmi 2022). A priori, there is not a sole dimension of inequality that should be analysed, but the choice should be guided by the theoretical mechanism one has in mind. Most existing theories suggest that the distribution of wealth is crucial for growth, because wealth levels determine investment possibilities and living standards through permanent income. However, there exists a major gap in the existing empirical literature which has so far measured inequality mainly in terms of income. As new and better data on wealth (inequality) become available—see, for instance, the efforts of the World Inequality Database (also Blanchet and Martinez-Toledano 2022)—this gap is expected to be closed soon, at least for industrialised countries.

The other key question regarding inequality is not what to measure, but how to measure it. That is, which statistical measure is most appropriate—in the inequalitygrowth context—to measure the distribution of economic resources: the Gini coefficient, the Theil index, quantile/top shares, percentile ratios, variance, or others? So far, most of the reduced-form literature has employed a single inequality statistic – the Gini coefficient. However, as Voitchovsky (2005) and Litschig and Lombardi (2019) have shown, the use of a single statistic such as the Gini is likely to be inadequate because it masks heterogeneous effects. Simply put, inequalities that arise at the bottom versus the top of the distribution are unlikely to have the same impact on growth. Therefore, and this is the key point we seek to emphasise here, it is unlikely that any single inequality statistic captures the full nature of the inequality-growth relationship. Thus, empirical work should incorporate—at least as a robustness exercise—statistical measures that capture inequality arising from different parts of the distribution.

In the analysis of growth, the fundamental object of interest is how people’s standard of living and welfare evolve over time. The standard measure used for this purpose is the change in real per capita GDP. Although the limitations of GDP as a measure of economic welfare are well established (e.g. Stiglitz et al. 2009, Jones and Klenow 2016, Piketty 2022), for obvious reasons of comparability, it remains the standard metric employed in virtually all of the empirical studies in the literature. Growth performance measured by GDP can in turn be captured in several ways: average growth rates, variability of growth, the length of growth spells, or the potential of growth to ‘take off’ from stagnation to positive growth rates. Most empirical work typically focuses on per capita growth rates over a somewhat arbitrary period of time, say, five or ten years. 2 By definition, positive per capita growth improves income (and living standards) on average, but not necessarily for everyone in a society, perhaps not even for the majority. Hence, again, we want to emphasise that averages, this time for (income) growth, are unlikely sufficient to truly uncover the inequality-growth nexus.

This limitation of the existing literature to average growth rates, as Van der Weide and Milanovic (2018) rightly point out, seems somewhat paradoxical. After all, one might suppose that we should be particularly interested in how (income or wealth) inequality affects the income trajectories of individuals located at very different points in the income distribution. Using US state-level data for the period 1960 to 2010, Van der Weide and Milanovic (2018) examine whether and how inequality affects income growth differently across various percentiles of the income distribution. In essence, they find that in the US, initial inequality is negatively associated with subsequent growth rates among poorer income percentiles and positively related among higher percentiles. While this is intriguing and relevant evidence, further research along these lines is certainly warranted. First, an obvious next step in order to generalise these results is to extend this type of analysis to other countries and/or in a cross-country framework. Second, a more thorough exploration of the mechanisms that cause inequality to affect growth unevenly along the income distribution is needed.

Connecting the distribution of inequality and growth inequality

The theoretical arguments and the empirical evidence seem to suggest that both very high and very low levels of overall inequality are bad for growth. However, when considering different parts of the distribution, inequality at the top and inequality at the bottom of the (income) distribution have an opposite effect on average income growth. On the other hand, when we want to understand which parts of the distribution profit from growth, an average measure of income inequality produces an opposite effect on income growth between the lower-income and upper-income percentiles. Thus, and this is the main point we are trying to get across in this column, averages are not sufficient to reveal the complexity of the relationship between inequality and growth, and that this applies to both inequality and growth. Eventually, we think the following complex of questions could be fruitful to further research: Is inequality —whatever dimension we are interested in, i.e. incomes, wages, consumption, wealth, land, or opportunity—at the top of the distribution beneficial for the income growth of the top groups, and how does the relationship look like for the bottom part of the distribution?

Akcigit, U, S Baslandze and S Stantcheva (2015), “The effects of top tax rates on superstar inventors” , VoxEU.org, 27 April.

Aghion, P and P Bolton (1997), “A theory of trickle-down growth and development”, The Review of Economic Studies 64(2): 151-172.

Baselgia, E and R Foellmi (2022), “ Inequality and growth: a review on a great open debate in economics ”, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 17483.

Blanchet, T and C Martínez-Toledano (2022), “Wealth Inequality Dynamics in Europe and the United States: Understanding the Determinants”, Journal of Monetary Economics , forthcoming.

Chancel, L, T Piketty, E Saez, G Zucman et al. (2021), World Inequality Report 2022 , World Inequality Lab.

Dorn, D and P Levell (2022), “ Changing views on trade’s impact on inequality in wealthy countries ”, VoxEU.org, 14 February.

Goldin, C and L F Katz (2010), The race between education and technology, Harvard University Press.

Halter, D, M Oechslin and J Zweimüller (2014), “Inequality and growth: the neglected time dimension”, Journal of Economic Growth 19(1): 81-104.

Jones, C I and P J Klenow (2016), “Beyond GDP? Welfare across countries and time”, American Economic Review 106(9): 2426-57.

Kanbur, R, E Ortiz-Juarez and A Sumner (2022), “ The global inequality boomerang ”, VoxEU.org, 2 May.

Litschig, S and M Lombardi (2019), “Which tail matters? Inequality and growth in Brazil”, Journal of Economic Growth 24(2): 155-187.

Lundberg, M and L Squire (2003), “The simultaneous evolution of growth and inequality”, The Economic Journal 113(487): 326-344.

Milanovic, B (2020), “ Elephant who lost its trunk: Continued growth in Asia, but the slowdown in top 1% growth after the financial crisis ”, VoxEU.org, 6 October.

Piketty, T (2022), A Brief History of Equality, Harvard University Press.

Rebelo, S (1991), “Long-run policy analysis and long-run growth”, Journal of Political Economy 99(3): 500-521.

Stiglitz, J, A Sen, J P Fitoussi, et al. (2009), Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress .

Van der Weide, R and B Milanovic (2018), “Inequality is bad for growth of the poor (but not for that of the rich)”, The World Bank Economic Review 32(3): 507-530.

Voitchovsky, S (2005), “Does the profile of income inequality matter for economic growth?”, Journal of Economic Growth 10(3): 273-296.

• Our review by no means claims to be exhaustive and should be understood as complementing and updating earlier surveys on the inequality-growth relationship (see Baselgia and Foellmi 2022 for details).
• Note that the choice of the time period considered, e.g. a five-year versus a ten-year growth period, is critical to the estimated effect and may even reverse its sign, as shown in Halter et al. (2014).

Effects of income inequality on economic growth

• Daniel Lederman
• Markus Brückner
• Global economy
• Poverty and Income Inequality

The missing link between income inequality and economic growth: Inequality of opportunity

• Christian Ebeke
• Shekhar Aiyar

Elephant who lost its trunk: Continued growth in Asia, but the slowdown in top 1% growth after the financial crisis

• Branko Milanovic

Economic Inequality: What It Is and How It Impacts You

There are steps Americans can take to fight economic inequality in their personal lives and communities.

What to Know About Economic Inequality

Getty Images

Wealth and income inequality have increased over the previous half-century.

It's nearly impossible to read the news these days without running across mentions of economic inequality.

In recent months, politicians have debated the merits of raising marginal tax rates on the wealthy, a move proponents say could reduce economic inequalities. Likewise, economic inequality takes center stage when columnists discuss the extreme riches of some of today's business owners, like Jeff Bezos, who could purchase every home in Austin, Texas, according to real estate brokerage Redfin . The concept of economic inequality was even discussed during the recent college admissions scandal in which celebrities and other wealthy parents allegedly paid bribes to secure college acceptance letters for their children.

So what is economic inequality, and how does it impact you? Here's what to know about this important social and financial concept.

What Is Economic Inequality?

Economic inequality is a broad term that encapsulates the gap between the income and wealth amassed by different groups in a society. Americans reference it when questioning why CEOs earn so much more than their employees or how historical and current policies have barred families of color from accumulating wealth. "Economic inequality is the more generic name and within that you could talk about income inequality and wealth inequality," says Jim Freeland, professor of business administration at Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Understanding economic inequality can be complex, Freeland says. "It's not, by itself, bad," he says. "A lot of people would say, when you see (economic inequality), it's a measure that capitalism is working." But, he adds, "It's a question of: How unequal should it be? A lot of people are concerned we've gone beyond where it should be."

Indeed, wealth and income inequality have increased over the previous half-century. According to the Urban Institute , in 1963, a family in the 90th wealth percentile had about six times the wealth owned by the typical American family. This gap was relatively stable until about 1983, when it quickly widened. By 2016, a family at the 90th percentile had almost $1.2 million in wealth, more than 12 times the amount owned by the typical family.

(Courtesy of the Urban Institute)

Similarly, income inequality has risen over the past 50 years, according to the Urban Institute . The income for families near the top of the income spectrum increased by about 90 percent from 1963 to 2016. Meanwhile, the income of families at the bottom increased less than 10 percent.

While income inequality is worth considering, wealth inequality is a more revealing and comprehensive metric to understand, says Signe-Mary McKernan, co-director of the Opportunity and Ownership initiative and an economist at the Urban Institute. Income can have a powerful impact on a person's financial health and status, but the passing down of wealth through generations is a more powerful measure of opportunity and prosperity. "Wealth is important because it's where economic opportunity lies," McKernan says.

How Does Economic Inequality Impact You?

You may not be thinking about the wealth gap when buying your first home or applying for a credit card , but these economic structures have real-world impacts on your daily life.

"There's a strong correlation between economic inequality and opportunity inequality," Freeland says. An economic imbalance impacts people's abilities to climb the wealth ladder and to get ahead by working hard, he says. It can lead to geographic segregation, gaps in educational attainment and cycles of poverty. "If you can't move, it really makes you feel kind of helpless and you give up hope," he says.

Economic inequality can leave families financially vulnerable, unable to weather small financial setbacks or begin to build wealth. It can put families in financial jeopardy when a crisis such as a job loss arises, Freeland says. On a political level, he says, it can threaten democracy as a small group of elite amass political influence and control.

(Courtesy of Fabian T. Pfeffer (Inequality Lab, University of Michigan and Alexandra Killewald (Harvard University) )

How Can I Fight Back Against Economic Inequality?

It isn't easy, but there are individual and community-focused moves Americans can make to battle economic inequality in their lives and in their localities. "I think the thing that helps people do that is to reconcile that, yes, what we do personally matters, and we are within a larger construct," says Saundra Davis, a financial coach and financial behavior specialist at Sage Financial Solutions in San Francisco.

On the personal level, families at all income levels can take steps to shore up their financial stability and ability to survive financial setbacks, including taking advantage of employer-sponsored or public savings programs and safety nets.

Urban Institute's McKernan suggests funneling money into automatic savings vehicles, such as employee retirement accounts , IRAs or via automatic transfers from a checking to a savings account. "Low-income families with savings are more financially resilient than middle-income families without savings," she says.

Prioritizing access to health insurance, either through an employer or a government program, is another key way to avoid medical debt , which can be crippling for many families. While economic inequality is a broad topic, it can be helpful to tackle it head-on in your financial life. "Even if you are poor or low-income, research has shown you can build wealth," McKernan says. "It's not easy, but it's possible."

To combat economic inequality from a community-wide perspective, consider supporting policy ideas that tackle wealth inequality. Policies that improve schools, provide parenting resources and desegregate housing can combat economic inequality, Freeland says. Join programs that improve mobility and help people in need, such as tutoring disadvantaged students or coaching a community sports team. Business owners can close economic gaps when they offer support to their employees, such as paid sick leave , child care resources and paid time off, Freeland says.

McKernan points to recent policies in states such as New York and Oregon, where officials are working to launch automatic retirement plans for workers who don't have access to employer-sponsored 401(k)s. Another policy suggestion that addresses economic inequality: opportunity bonds. One proposal would give newborns a $1,000 savings account at birth, which could accrue additional deposits and interest until that child turns 18.

There may be other kinds of programs specific to your region that aim to close the wealth and income gap and limit economic inequality. Select what coincides with your values and the needs of your community. When it comes to solving economic inequality, "this is a complicated and difficult problem, so there's no one solution," Freeland says. "A whole bunch of people need to do a whole bunch of different things."

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Economic Inequality Essays (Examples)

1000+ documents containing “economic inequality” .

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Economic inequality and austerity motivator for revolution.

Economic inequality occurs when there is a gap in the economic well beings of a group of individuals in a given country. In the Arab world, the economic inequality is one of the major factors that leads to the political violence because a discontent generated from a gap has been the major determinant of violent behavior. Typically, income inequality has a strong correlation with mass violence, and the higher the level of income inequality, the higher the probability of mass violence and political revolution. In 2010, a 26-year-old grocery vendor set himself ablaze in Tunisia because the police confiscated his goods. The event took place in a depressed area of Tunisia where the youth unemployment was more than 40%. The uprising occurred on the following day making a large proportion of the population to protest violently. The issue had the traits of a revolution with the aim of obtaining greater….

Social Economic Inequality

Social Economic Inequality hen people think of social inequity, they generally frame this in terms of socio-economic class. People who have accumulated much wealth occupy the top echelons of society and enjoy the most privileges as brought on by their money and social status. On the other end, people who are poor have little or no access to these privileges and are often marginalized in terms of education and social services. However, there are many forms of social inequity and stratification. In the United States, for example, much of social interaction is mitigated by gender and race. For example, statistics show that a wage gap exists between the genders. Despite pay equity laws and a growing awareness of gender discrimination and women's rights, salary disparities continue to exist between men and women across a broad range of occupations. This paper argues that socio-economic inequality is caused by many non-economic factors, such as stratification….

Works Cited

Bottomore, Tom, ed. A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Second Edition. London: Basil Blackwell, 1991.

Califano, Joseph A. "Healthy Horizons." excerpted in Health Care: Opposing Viewpoints. James D. Torr, ed. San Diego: Greenhaven Press (2000).

Gans, Herbert. "The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay for All." Down to Earn Sociology: Introductory Readings. 9th ed. James Henslin, ed. New York: The Free Press, 1997.

Kangas, Steve. "The Long FAQ on Liberalism: Myths about health care." excerpted in Health Care: Opposing Viewpoints. James D. Torr, ed. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000.

The Economic Inequality of Today

Locke’s Private Property Theory Cannot Justify the Economic Inequality We Observe Today Introduction In 2015, more than 1 percent of families living in the United States generated over 25 times what other families of the remaining 99 percent generated (Kluegel & Smith, 2017). This discovery is being realized as the rich keep getting richer while the poor become even poorer, as observed in the US. Locke starts by explaining his theory of private property by determining how people start to possess property apart from the ordinary resources offered to humankind. The key feature that defines a given part of private property is called labor, as the person who operates the “labor that eliminates [the good] from the common natural condition that it was left in” gives him ownership of the property (Locke, 2002; 30). Locke asserts that the common natural resources are available to every individual, but one takes ownership of a specific….

Prevalence of Economic Inequality in America

Racial and economic inequality persists. Why do many people deny it?The main social problem discussed in the article is economic inequality and why most people prefer to ignore that it exists (Sumagaysay & Berman, Jan. 26, 2022). If a person does not acknowledge something, it does not take up space in their minds, and they can lead their life as they prefer. Most white Americans have continuously ignored the existence of economic and racial inequality, and they prefer to assume that the reason for these inequalities is that black people are lazy. Using such perspectives, they can easily ignore the glaring economic inequality within society. A sociological perspective is presented by demonstrating how people do not mix with others from different backgrounds. Segregation begins in school, where K-12 schools are divided along racial and economic lines (Sumagaysay & Berman, Jan. 26, 2022). Colleges are segregated along the same lines, and….

Sumagaysay, L., & Berman, J. (Jan. 26, 2022). Racial and economic inequality persists. Why do many people deny it? Market Watch.  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/racial-and-economic-inequality-persists-why-do-many-people-deny-it-11643151155 

Education and Economic Inequality Are

Furthermore, the best means by which to achieve upward social mobility for many people has been strong labor movements and corresponding labor laws that protect the interest of workers. Raising minimum wages, expanding opportunities for advancement, and reducing burdens on the poor are some of the ways income disparity can be minimized. These are policies and programs that have been systematically stifled in the United States, especially over the past several decades as conservatives have gained a stranglehold on policymakers and lobbyists in ashington. As Foner points out, too, New Deal policies proved effective in alleviating some of the root causes of poverty. Such forward-thinking programs and policies need to be implemented now, to curb the spread of income disparity. There are other issues that need to be addressed, too, though. Marsh is coming from a Euro-centric perspective that denies the relevance of other models of education or curricula. He….

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! W.W. Norton, 2004.

Marsh, John. "Class Dismissed." Audio on Against the Grain:  http://www.againstthegrain.org/program/639/tues-122512-education-and-inequality 

Marsh, John. "Why Education is Not a Panacea." The Chronicle of Higher Education.28 August, 2011. Retrieved online:  http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Education-Is-Not-an/128790 

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. Harper Perennial, 2010.

Economic Inequalities Essay

Economic Inequalities: Deep-ceded Problems in America New York is a city that is synonymous with America to many people and societies around the world. New York city is a land of freedom and opportunity, symbolized by Lady Liberty in New York harbor. This is a place that does not discriminate based on background, but allows people to chart their own destinies. Or does it? The New York of the 1960s or even the 1990s does not exist anymore. Economic inequality has run rampant in New York as it has in many metropolitan cities. Bill Moyers, economist reported that “Among our largest, richest 20 metro areas, less than 50 percent of the homes are affordable.’ In New York City, he said, ‘Inequality in housing has reached Dickensian dimensions’” (Winship).  This paper will explore how the economic inequality is undermining the very democratic principles that shaped this country. When there’s too much economic….

Internet and Economic Inequality in the World

Technology and Economic InequalityEconomic inequality refers to the unequal distribution of income and opportunity between different groups in society. Technology and the Internet have played big roles in influencing this disparity. On the one hand, technology has the potential to decrease economic inequality by providing access to information, education, and job opportunities. The Internet has democratized access to information, breaking down barriers that previously limited access for certain groups. For example, online education platforms offer courses from top universities, making high-quality education more accessible. Additionally, the gig economy, which is facilitated by the internet, provides flexible job opportunities, which can be particularly beneficial for marginalized groups. Thus, if one has access to the Internet one can be ones own boss, and so on.However, technology has also contributed to increasing economic inequality. The digital divide is a problem as those who do not have access to Internet get left behind. People….

Economics Part A-Economics and Society

Unfortunately most growth oriented economic policies such as "supply-side" economic policies tend to exacerbate inequality. A greater role of the government in the economy such as increased taxation on the rich can reduce inequality. Inflation and unemployment are usually inversely proportional in most economies, i.e., increase of money supply through deficit financing reduces unemployment but increases inflation while tight monetary policies reduce inflation but increase unemployment. According to a number of analysts, a major cause of terrorism in the world is an acute sense of deprivation among a large section of the population. Economic measures can, arguably prove more effective in rooting out terrorism than military action. Part C-Theory What, How and for Whom to Produce: In 'free market economies' decentralized decision making by individuals and firms based on consumers' desires (which determine the price of goods) and the profit motive determine what goods are produced and in what quantities. For example,….

Free Market Economy" (2003). Article in Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. CD Rom Version, 2003.

O'Connor, D.E. & Faille, C. (2000). Basic Economic Principles: A Guide for Students. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

The Rural Poverty Trap." (2004). Oxfam Briefing Paper # 59. [Available online] Accessed on January 26, 2005 at http://www.maketradefair.com/en/assets/bp59_The_Rural_Poverty_Trap.pdf

According to FAO statistics more than 900 million people live on less than $1 a day in the rural areas of the developing world (The Rural Poverty Trap, 2004)

Economic and Constitutional Issues Surrounding

It is also argued that the insurance mandate is not constitutional since the government does not have the right to tell the United States citizens what products to purchase, even when these products are beneficial for them, and even less when the socio-economic impact of purchasing the respective items is questionable (Savage, 2009). Arguments against changing the direction of the policy Once again delaying any measures to restructure and resolve the two impending problems in the health care system (raising costs and insufficient coverage) does not constitute a constructive approach to resolving the impending problems Aside the socio-economic problems it raises, the mandatory health insurance would ensure that all the U.S. citizens benefit at least from the basic health care services and this does not put tremendous strains on the federal budgets. 5. ationale of the suggestion to change the direction Despite the benefits the mandatory health insurance would generate for the population, its implementation….

References:

Barnett, R., 2009, Is health insurance mandate constitutional? last accessed on June 18, 2010

Berger, J., 2009, a health insurance mandate that works like auto insurance? Think again,  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/14/health-insurance-mandate-works-like-auto-insurance-think  / last accessed on June 18, 2010

Bihari, M., 2010, Mandated benefits -- understanding mandated health insurance benefits,  http://healthinsurance.about.com/od/reform/a/mandated_benefits_overview.htm  last accessed on June 18, 2010

Cowen, T., 2009, How an insurance mandate could leave many worse off,  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/health/policy/25view.html  last accessed on June 18, 2010

Economic Self-Interest Alone Has Propelled

nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02bett.html [26 Apr 2013]] The main criticism levied against Kinzer's work is the question: where was the American public during these escapades? After all, if America is a democracy, do they not have responsibility for their leaders' actions? Sadly, they cheered their leaders on, or ignored what was being done in the name of their nation. "Only briefly does Kinzer touch upon the U.S. citizens who questioned government tactics in foreign land… Unfortunately, leaders - describing their motivation as benevolence and a desire to liberate the oppressed - have learned how to win popular support for even the most outrageous regime change, and U.S. citizens repeatedly fall for the bait."[footnoteRef:12] [12: Susan Froetschel, "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq," [Review], Yale Global Online, 2006. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/about/overthrow.jsp [26 Apr 2013]] ibliography etts, Richard K. "A century of intervention, regarded with a cold eye." The New York Times. 2 May 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02bett.html [26….

Bibliography

Betts, Richard K. "A century of intervention, regarded with a cold eye." The New York Times.

2 May 2006.  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02bett.html  [26 Apr 2013]

Froetschel, Susan. "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq."

[Review]. Yale Global Online, 2006.  http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/about/overthrow.jsp  [26 Apr 2013]

Economic Crisis

Economic Crisis The revelation of the financial crisis that unfolded in United States in 2008 is considered to be the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, 1929. The distinctive causative factors that have contributed to the U.S. economic crisis 2008- 2009 are differentiated by aggravated financial control, higher risks in capital investment, the housing bubble phenomena in relation to the brisk credit expansion. The aggregation of these factors in the U.S. economy directed the economy towards the de- leverage and credit crunches as the bubble burst. The following paper shall be discussing about the degree of correlation between the tax implications policies with respect to the financial crisis in U.S.. The precise review of strong linkages between the taxation and economic crises is the explicit explanation of the crisis that shook America. The paper also highlights the key factors that demonstrated their abilities and rescued U.S. In the economic crisis. Introduction The….

Carr, D.A. (2011). Responses to Local Fiscal Shocks: Path Dependency Effects of the Clean Air Act. Public Finance and Management, 11(2), 160+. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from Questia database:  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5050180027 

Hendrickson, J.M., & Nichols, M.W. (2010). Did Commercial Banks Close Branches in Low-income Neighborhoods in Response to the Cra? Implications for Understanding the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 13(1), 17+. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from Questia database:  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5044499375 

Johnson, E.M. (2010, April). Mr. Trust Buster. In These Times, 34, 7+. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from Questia database:  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5041402599 

Robinson, S.N., & Nantz, D.P. (2009). Lessons to Be Learned from the Financial Crisis. Journal of Private Enterprise, 25(1), 5+. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from Questia database:  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5037768696

Economic Depression of Europe

Economic Depression of Europe An economic depression is more severe than a recession due to the fact that a depression involves drastic decline in a national or international economy, characterized by decreasing business activity, falling prices, and high levels of unemployment. There were economic depressions in Europe that were experienced before and after the 1870 but with a remarkable difference, being that those that were experienced before the 1870s were less costly in terms of life and resources and took relatively lesser period. Indeed it was a commonplace that every part of Europe experienced one sort of economic depression or the other. One such economic situation before 1870 was the "little ice age" which began in the late 16th century till around 1950s as indicated by Big Site of History (2011). This was a time when a severe cold that could not be withstood by most crops set in most part of Europe.….

Big Site of History (2011). Social Trends in 17th Century Europe: The Problem of Divine-Right

Monarchy. Retrieved July 18, 2011 from  http://bigsiteofhistory.com/social-trends-in-17th-century-europe-the-problem-of-divine-right-monarchy 

Historic UK, (2011). The Great Plague 1665. Retrieved July 18, 2011 from http://www.historic-

uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/GreatPlague.htm

Economic Institutions the History of

That is, international financial organizations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and which controlled by core states, decide that, in order to grant financial aid to undeveloped countries, these states should comply with some rules that are, in the end, in the detriment of their own economy. For example, Africa pays more to the IMF and World Bank, than it collects in credit from them, and this leads to low living standards, poor education and health systems and undeveloped infrastructure. Besides financial institutions, transnational corporations have a saying in the economic development of a country. Although one might be tempted to say that a corporation, by creating a branch in an undeveloped country gives that economy a boom, it is actually all about personal gain. Working in a corporation might be considered the best thing that could happen to a person, on a professional scale. You have….

Chomsky, Noam. "DRCNet Interview: Noam Chomsky." Drug War Chronicle Aug.2002. Drug Reform Coordination Network. Washington DC. 2.08.2002.  http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/223/noamchomsky.shtml .

Korten, David C. "When Corporations Rule the World." USA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 2 edition, 2001

Kozol, Jonathan. "The Shame of the Nation. The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America." New York: Crown Publishers, 2005

Wallerstein, Immanuel. "The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century." New York: Academic Press, 1976

Economics the Dominant Economic Theme

ealth does not equate to happiness, a sense of purpose, dignity or respect. One of the key underlying assumptions of neoliberal philosophy, as derived from Milton Friedman, is that financial wealth is the ideal end goal of all activity. hile financial wealth solves many problems it does not solve all problems. Opponents of globalization, whatever their other arguments, incorporate this understanding into their protestations. Naomi Klein goes further, suggesting that the unequal wealth distribution in the globalized economy is deliberate. The march towards globalization is not an altruistic endeavor borne of a firm belief in the power of the free market, but is a calculated strategy on the part of the world's elite to seize the world's wealth and power at whatever expense is necessary. Indeed, any economic benefits realized by the masses are incidental. Casualties -- be they citizens of Iraq, indigenous peoples or indeed any of the world's….

Works Cited:

Harvey, D. (2007). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.

Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. Toronto: Random House.

Friedman, T. (1999). The Lexus and the olive tree. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Appiah, K. (2006). The case for contamination. New York Times Magazine. Jan 1, 2006.

Economics Country Analysis

Economics - Country Analysis Country Overview and Current Events (News) Ethiopia, traditionally known as Abyssinia, is a landlocked Sub-Saharan country located at the Horn of Africa in East Africa, bordering Somalia, Kenya, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, and the newly-created South Sudan. It covers approximately 1,126,829km2 of land; about the size of the state of Texas, and was, until the split of Sudan, the second-largest country in Africa. Being landlocked, Ethiopia largely relies on the port of Djibouti, to which it is connected by both rail and road. Economic elements such as this, together with the country's history, population, geography and economic performance have been explored in the subsequent sections of this text. Population: the U.S. Census Bureau, in June 2013, estimated Ethiopia's population to be 93,877,025; a figure that makes the country the second-most populous in Africa, after Nigeria (orld Bank, Index Mundi). Ethiopia's population has been on a steady increase and so has….

AFDB. "Inflation Dynamics in Selected East African Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda." AFDB Brief, 2012. Web. 18 March 2014  http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/07022012Inflatin%20East%20Africa%20-%20ENG%20-%20Internal.pdf 

This article analyses the trend in Ethiopia's inflation rates vis-a-vis those of other countries in the Sub-Saharan region and was a valuable source of regional statistics, which formed the main basis for comparison.

Broussar, Nzinga, and Tekleselassie Tsegay. "Youth Unemployment: Ethiopia; Country Study." International Growth Center, 2012. Web. 18 March 2014  http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/07022012Inflation%20East%20Africa%20-%20ENG%20-%20Internal.pdf 

This article analyzes the trend in Ethiopia's employment patterns. It reinforced my arguments that unemployment is more prevalent in urban Ethiopia, and that the country's informal sector contributes more to GDP than the formal sector.

Is there anything in the news related to adversity that would make a good essay subject?

Yes, there are several news topics related to adversity that would make for a compelling essay subject. Here are a few examples: 1. The COVID-19 pandemic: You can explore how people worldwide faced numerous adversities due to the pandemic, such as health challenges, economic struggles, mental health issues, and social isolation. You can discuss stories of resilience, innovative solutions, community support, and lessons learned. 2. Climate change and natural disasters: Write about the adversity faced by communities affected by natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, wildfires, or droughts. Discuss the challenges of rebuilding lives, adapting to new circumstances, and finding sustainable solutions to....

Could you suggest some essay topics related to Opioid Epidemic?

Topic 1: The Root Causes of the Opioid Epidemic Examine the complex interplay of factors contributing to the opioid epidemic, including the role of prescription practices, socioeconomic inequality, and the influence of pharmaceutical companies. Topic 2: The Socioeconomic Impact of the Opioid Epidemic Analyze the devastating consequences of the opioid epidemic on communities, including increased crime rates, poverty, and the strain on social services. Topic 3: The Role of Prescription Practices in Fueling the Epidemic Investigate the role of doctors, pharmacists, and the healthcare system in the overprescription of opioids and its impact on the epidemic. Topic 4: The Failure of Law Enforcement....

Is there anything in the news related to investigation on theft that would make a good essay subject?

Yes, there are several recent news stories related to investigations on theft that could make for interesting essay subjects. Some potential topics include: 1. The rise of retail theft during the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges faced by law enforcement in addressing this issue. 2. The use of technology, such as surveillance cameras and facial recognition software, in the investigation of theft cases. 3. The impact of organized crime networks on the theft of high-value items, such as jewelry or electronics. 4. The ethical implications of using sting operations and undercover agents in theft investigations. 5. The role of social media and online marketplaces in....

I\'m looking for a unique and fresh essay topic on debates in political theory module. Any ideas that stand out?

Title: Navigating the Crossroads of Authority: Exploring the Legitimacy and Limits of Power in Political Theory Introduction: At the crux of political theory lies the intricate interplay between authority and power, a dynamic relationship that has sparked debates and shaped paradigms for centuries. This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of legitimacy, interrogating the foundations of authority and the boundaries of power. Through a comprehensive analysis of historical and contemporary perspectives, we will explore the challenges and complexities of legitimizing power, the tensions between various sources of authority, and the implications for political practice and social justice. 1. The Sources and Foundations of....

Economics - Macroeconomics

Economic inequality occurs when there is a gap in the economic well beings of a group of individuals in a given country. In the Arab world, the economic inequality…

Social Economic Inequality hen people think of social inequity, they generally frame this in terms of socio-economic class. People who have accumulated much wealth occupy the top echelons of society…

Locke’s Private Property Theory Cannot Justify the Economic Inequality We Observe Today Introduction In 2015, more than 1 percent of families living in the United States generated over 25 times what…

Article Review

Racial and economic inequality persists. Why do many people deny it?The main social problem discussed in the article is economic inequality and why most people prefer to ignore that…

Furthermore, the best means by which to achieve upward social mobility for many people has been strong labor movements and corresponding labor laws that protect the interest of…

Economic Inequalities: Deep-ceded Problems in America New York is a city that is synonymous with America to many people and societies around the world. New York city is a land…

Technology and Economic InequalityEconomic inequality refers to the unequal distribution of income and opportunity between different groups in society. Technology and the Internet have played big roles in influencing…

Unfortunately most growth oriented economic policies such as "supply-side" economic policies tend to exacerbate inequality. A greater role of the government in the economy such as increased taxation…

It is also argued that the insurance mandate is not constitutional since the government does not have the right to tell the United States citizens what products to purchase,…

nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02bett.html [26 Apr 2013]] The main criticism levied against Kinzer's work is the question: where was the American public during these escapades? After all, if America is a democracy, do…

Research Paper

Economic Crisis The revelation of the financial crisis that unfolded in United States in 2008 is considered to be the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, 1929. The distinctive…

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Essay On Economic Inequality

How has the gap in economic inequality changed between countries in recent years? Introduction In recent years, one of the most popular global issues which raise concerns among people from all over the world is the gap in inequality between the rich and poor countries. This inequality has existed for decades. Today we are living in the same world, but the social and financial differences still exist and are in a process of increasing rapidly. As with all social problems, there are many possible causes for economic inequality , such as differences in education, technology and capitalism, etc. In this essay, I will take a closer look and analyze several critical factors and introduce a few solutions to adjust this gap inequality within societies. …show more content…

However, there are policies for free education in developed societies, although levels of education can greatly differ between each individual because of their financial and innate ability. A good example of this is Hong Kong. Here, 12 years of free education is provided for each citizen. This is only offered when students receive certain results in public examinations. Receiving the same level of education does not mean each individual receive the same quality of education. In education, both levels and quality play an important role in economic inequality within a …show more content…

The trend where only the rich become richer can be solved by putting more attention on education and investing in human capital. This may not be effected within the next decade because of the growing divide between the poor and the rich in most countries, for example the United States and even Hong Kong. Often, the manner in which resources are being allocated is an obstacle to solving the problem. The problem is a vicious cycle and it will need the joint efforts of governments and all stakeholders to reduce the gap in economic

Income Inequality In America Essay

Based on freedom and equality, America is today the country the most unequal amongst developed countries. Today there is a very big difference between the ideal, what Americans think and the reality of the income distribution. There is only a very small share in the middle class. This is a major crisis in the United States indeed, 1 per cent of the rich have 40 per cent of the country’s wealth.

Richard Valdmanis 'America's Wealth Gap' Unsustainable

(1) In “America’s Wealth Gap ‘Unsustainable’ According to Harvard Study” (September 8th, 2014), Richard Valdmanis acknowledges THAT the economic gap between the richest and its middle and lower classes is accumulating and numerous people are affected by this dilemma. (2) Valdmanis supports his acknowledgement by referring to the study done by Harvard Business School on surveying the effects of the gap on people, economy, and institutions; moreover on how it affects the hope of thriving citizens and struggling citizens to their extremes. (3) Valdmanis’s motive is to present and describe the dilemmas and effects the economic gap has caused on the society and economy IN ORDER for the readers to recognize the crisis and get an idea of what is

Analysis Of Wealth Inequality In America

The wealthy continue to grow as they get more of everything and the lower class continue to get less. The average wealth has increased over the last 50 years, but it has not grown equally for all. “ Families near the bottom of the wealth distribution (those at the 10th percentile) went from having no wealth on average to being

Wealth Gap Analysis

Without a doubt the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has continue to widen. In an article called “Fueled by Recession, U.S. Wealth Gap Is Widest in Decades, Study Finds” written by Patricia Cohen, point out the widening wealth gap between the upper-income compared to the middle-income and low-income. Essentially, upper income wealth has increased 101 percent; it was $318,000 in 1983 and increased to $639,400 in 2013. While low income has decreased 18.4 percent; it was $11,400 in 1983 and decreased to 9,300 in 2013. I think that the government should implement policies to reduce the inequality because it’s becoming an issue.

Income Inequality In The 1920s Essay

The distribution of incomes and wealth in the 1920s and now are diverse but similar in several ways (Ucsc.edu). A person’s wealth is determined by what they own, not including any debts. A person’s income is how much money one may make on a job or money someone obtain. Income inequality is real and has affected people for many years, and it is still occurring currently. The distribution of wealth in the 1920s earned the name roaring twenties due to the sustained prosperity, new technology advancements, and exciting culture (Shmoop.com).

Guiding College Gap

In ”Guiding a First Generation to College”, Tina Rosenberg discussed that how to help high-achieving poor students to get into College. In the paper, “About 30,000 students from poor families score in the top 10 percent on the SAT or ACT college entrance exams and yet don’t go to selective schools. And nearly a quarter of low-income students who score in the top 25 percent on standardized tests never go to any college.” In fact, there are many resources can help reduce the yawning dimensions of the college gap. Tina Rosenberg points out one big part of the divide is the information disconnect.

Wealth Inequality Essay

Inequality in the accumulation of wealth in the U.S.’s black population stretches back to times of slavery and lack of reparations for their group’s enslavement to the Social Security Act and the Federal Housing Act (GIB 1). Racial discrimination lurks in the U.S.’s housing market from its very conception after WWII, when GIs began to return home in search of a new home (RTPI). Although, the Federal Housing Administration by no means a starting point for the cause of wealth inequality, it certainly exacerbated the gap. White suburbs like “Levittown” created a white exclusive ideal neighborhood which devalued black and other nonwhite homeowners. Housing discrimination prevented blacks and nonwhites from accumulating wealth like whites would

Wealth Inequality In The United States

Nowadays, there is a huge gap of income and wealth inequality in the U.S. and that means the richer people are super rich while bottom people are struggling for basic living standard. There are some direct and explicit statistics from Inequality for All graphic package from which we can tell the phenomenon. In 2010, the typical 1% people earn 33 times of typical male workers but in 1978 the ratio is tenth comparing the male workers with the “1%” people. Also, it says “Today, the top 400 richest people have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together” (Inequality for All). This shows considerable wealth of the U.S. is controlled in the minority people, which is totally unlike the period of 1950s through 1980s.

The Role Of Income Inequality In The United States

The American public school system is arguably weak when compared to other countries, but it still functions to educate the public. The issue of inequality arises when it comes to higher education and who has access to it. Due to higher education costing anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in the United States, it is easy to see why there is an unequal level of access to higher education. Some might argue that higher education is not necessary and that the poor can find a living without it. This is not only restricting the poor to the lower class, but is simply not true.

Effects Of Income Inequality In The United States

1. Introduction Income inequality has grown significantly during this past decades and this phenomenon continues to increase over the years. This problem is constantly discussed in the daily news all around the world. Several consequences of this increase of inequality between people leads to economic problems such as high unemployment rates, lack of work for young people, fall of demand for certain product. The gap between rich and poor is increasing, the rich are richer and the poor are poorer as a result politicians and economists try to adopt certain policies in order to reduce this gap.

Essay On Inequality In America

Wealth and Inequality in America Inequality The inequality in America has increased over time; the gap between the rich and the poor has become a problem that many Americans don’t see. Inequality is the extent of income which is distributed unequally among the citizenry. The inequality of the United has a large gap between the poor and the rich making it unfair to the population, the rich are becoming wealthier and the poor remain poor. The article “Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%”, authored by Joseph E. Stiglitz describes that there is a 1 percent amount of American’s who are consuming about a quarter of the United States income in a year.

The Upside Of Income Inequality Summary

Income inequality acts as a means to “wake people up” and make clear to them their need for higher education and more hard work to obtain more money, and thus, more success. As income inequality increased in China and America, there arose a correlation to the increase among men and women of all races and ethnic backgrounds. Despite the fact that income inequality could cause people to make poor decisions and make them insecure in society, income inequality improves the economic systems in America and other parts of the world by serving as a motivation for people to achieve much greater things in the desires of changing their station in life for a happier

3.1 How income inequality affect on people live in America. The income gap in America affects people, who live in this country. The issue has a strong impact in America’s society; in particular, the nutritional disparity between rich and poor people. In USA, the food gap becomes the top signal for the class distinction, but it used to be clothing or fashion. The food inequality in America is not only influencing the poverty, it is also cost hundreds of billions of dollar per year because of Non Communicable Diseases (NDCs) (Ferdman, 2014).

Economic Inequality In America Essay

The problem with the widened wealth gap is that the inequality may harm the quality. Meaning that those in the higher classes see it as you can use the money with no restrictions. However, economist believe that the “relationship between inequality and economic freedom, with the possibility that policies that are meant to reduce inequality will reduce economic freedom, which will then only make inequality worse.”

Essay On Wealth Inequality

Introduction All over the world, there is an obvious contrast between the living standards and lifestyle of the rich and the poor. Moreover, there is a large gap between the populations of poor and wealthy. This is known as the Wealth Gap, and it is caused by Wealth Inequality. Wealth Income/Inequality is defined as “The unequal distribution of assets within a population.” Wealth is defined as more than just the amount of income a person has, but instead the value of a person’s assets.

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• United States
• Economic inequality
• Distribution of wealth

Inequality and Growth

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• Enea Baselgia 2 &
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What is the relationship between inequality and growth? This question has occupied and fascinated social scientists for more than a century. This chapter critically reviews the recent empirical and theoretical literature on the complex interplay between inequality and economic growth. Inequality might come in many forms: (top) incomes, wages, wealth, land, or opportunities. At the same time, growth performance could be measured as average growth rates, variability of growth, or the potential for growth to “take off.” This survey considers causality running from inequality to growth; hence, the Kuznets hypothesis is only touched on in passing. The empirical literature estimating the effect of inequality on growth has produced a wide range of results, precluding clear-cut conclusions on the inequality-growth relationship. Consequently, it remains central to understand the underlying economic causes and channels through which (different aspects of) inequality can promote or hamper economic growth. This chapter aims to provide a broad overview of the contemporary results and an outline for prospective empirical and theoretical work.

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Acknowledgments

Responsible Section Editor: Eva Sierminska. The article has benefited from valuable comments of the editors. This publication was supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Grant NNF19SA0060072, for the project “The Impact of Inequality on Growth, Human Development and Governance.” There are no conflicts of interest.

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Baselgia, E., Foellmi, R. (2022). Inequality and Growth. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_332-1

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Social and Economic Inequality Essay

Introduction.

The word is an extremely unequal place, and this is evidenced by the latest trends in social and economic inequality. Today, the richest part of the world’s population own approximately 40 percent of the total global assets, and this is just a top of the iceberg.

The richest 10 percent own more than 85 percent of the world’s wealth while the poorest 50 percent own just about 1 percent of the global wealth. This implies that the world’s top richest 150 persons possess more than what 50 percent of the world’s poorest, which are approximately 3.3 billion people, have.

The greatest source of this global inequality has been attributed to the huge gap among countries in levels of economic development. Disparities between developed and developing nations are enormous: the mean per capita income in developed nations is seven times more than it is in developed countries.

Growing levels of global economic inequality in the world has led to another form of inequality which is called social inequality. Today, societies and/or nations that are ranked low on economic aspects continue to face a number of social problems; millions of the world’s poorest people live without access to clean water, electricity, adequate housing, education and healthcare.

This implies that their ability to contribute productively to their nation/societies’ prosperity is limited. It worsens economic inequality among countries. Besides, social inequality has been linked with major political conflicts as it is seen in many countries, such as Sri Lanka, Uganda, the Congo Basin, and so on.

It is important to note that countries that rank low on economic indices also have the highest levels economic and social inequalities. Although nearly all the systems of moral belief challenge those of us who live in comfortable apartments to devote at least some resources to improve the conditions of those who live in poverty. Thus, economic and social inequality still remains high globally.

Although there is no universal accord on the causes of social and economic inequalities, many studies have pointed to societal structural changes as the main cause of the problem.

Loosely defined, structural changes refer to a long-term and extensive change of basic structures that have drastic effects on societal norms. Structural change can work to both reducing or increasing inequality levels as it is seen in the China and India case study. In 1981, nearly 64 percent of the Chinese population lived in absolute poverty, today, the figure has dropped to 15 percent.

In India, the drop was less significant, but still a noteworthy because the level reduced from 55 percent to 35 percent. Economic growth in China and India was the result of structural changes in the respective nations’ economies. China effected these changes by undertaking reforms in its economic policies to give greater power to market forces and the private sector.

The changes began in the agricultural sector more than 20 years ago and have been extended steadily to other sectors of the economy including service and industry sectors. These changes threw out price control mechanisms and gave more power to the private sectors. Today, China’s economic growth rate is averaged at 9.5 percent while national income has been doubling every 8 years due to these changes.

Although inequality still exists, similar to all the Western countries, China’s story of success and progress shows the extent to which structural changes can help in reducing inequality levels within its population and with other countries. Indeed, studies by the UN and other organizations show that there is a significant correlation between poverty and inequality.

While structural changes have reduced economic and social inequalities in some areas, the concept has led to a worsening of conditions in some countries. For instance, mechanization of agricultural processes has led to unemployment in some developing countries, increasing incomeinequality.

Although the structural change theory has gained widespread acceptance, a second theory that views inequality in the light of individualism has found application in some areas. For instance, Americans believe that the main cause of poverty (and hence inequality) is personal failure and moral turpitude of the poor.

This theory’s acceptance has caused an unnecessary strain between structural change and popular opinion in some areas since studies seem to suggest that both environmental and non-environmental factors including structural change affect a person’s likelihood of success in life. For instance, during the Communist control of China, the economy was regulated by a central power, and with concerted efforts to succeed, most citizens grew poor as state resources were controlled by the government.

The fall of the Communist government ushered in a new era that had seen the Chinese prosper and reduce of the inequality gap. Hence, the individualistic view of poverty and inequality does not effectively explain why some people live in poverty. The government and other structures must support its citizens so that prosperity at individual and national levels can be realized.

Social and economic inequality is likely to reduce in most countries in future. This forecast is based on current trends that show a drop in various types of inequalities in a number of nations. Besides, the world’s economy is becoming globalized, and in the future, the gap in income distribution will most likely reduce declining social and economic inequality.

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The Status of Economic Inequality in America

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The Gilded Age: America’s Era of Opulence and Inequality

This essay about the Gilded Age explores the period in American history from the late 19th to the early 20th century, defined by rapid economic growth, technological innovation, and significant social inequality. It highlights the era’s economic expansion led by industries such as steel and railroads, driven by figures like Rockefeller and Carnegie. The essay also touches on the technological advancements that changed daily life, juxtaposed with the harsh realities faced by the working class. It discusses the social and political contrasts of the time, including the lavish lifestyles of the elite versus the urban poor, and the rise of the Progressive Movement seeking reform. The Gilded Age’s legacy is presented as complex, laying the groundwork for America’s industrial future while underscoring the challenges of unchecked capitalism and the need for social responsibility. This exploration offers insights into how this pivotal period has shaped ongoing debates about economic disparity and regulatory policies.

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The Epoch of Elegance or Gilded Age, a term attributed to Mark Twain, epitomizes an era in American annals from the tardy 19th century to the premature 20th century, distinguished by swift economic expansion, technological breakthroughs, and profound societal disparities. This epoch, gleaming with affluence and ingenuity on its surface, concealed beneath it profound strata of societal quandaries and class schisms. This discourse probes into the intricate facets of the Epoch of Elegance, illuminating its repercussions on American society, economy, and the political arena.

At the nucleus of the Epoch of Elegance lay unparalleled economic proliferation. The United States witnessed a surge in industrialization, with the steel, railroad, and telegraph sectors spearheading the momentum. This period witnessed the ascent of colossal figures such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan, whose fortunes burgeoned through monopolistic practices and the centralization of authority within pivotal industries. While these “Moguls of Manufacture” or “Barons of Banditry,” contingent on one’s viewpoint, propelled the United States to novel economic zeniths, their accumulation of wealth underscored the era’s glaring economic disparities.

The Epoch of Elegance also represented an epoch of substantial technological and scientific breakthroughs. Innovations such as the telephonic device, electric illumination, and the internal combustion engine revolutionized daily existence and the operational dynamics of enterprises. These breakthroughs contributed to the burgeoning American economy but also to the widening chasm between the affluent and the destitute. The laboring class, encompassing many immigrants, toiled in arduous conditions for paltry remunerations, frequently in the burgeoning urban hubs that epitomized both the progress and predicament of the era.

Socially and politically, the Epoch of Elegance was characterized by dichotomies and incongruities. It was an era of ostentatious expenditure among the affluent elite, who erected expansive manors and hosted lavish galas, contrasted against the stark realities of urban slums and labor unrest. Politically, the period was distinguished by laissez-faire policies that favored commercial interests and minimal governmental interference in the economy. However, it also witnessed the inception of the Progressive Movement, which endeavored to address issues of disparity, corruption, and inefficiency in governance and commerce.

The legacy of the Epoch of Elegance is intricate. On one hand, it laid the groundwork for the United States’ ascent as a global economic juggernaut, establishing the underpinnings for modern American industry and ingenuity. On the other hand, it unveiled the necessity for reform and the hazards of unbridled capitalism, motifs that would come to define the premature 20th century. The era’s paradoxes between affluence and destitution, advancement and exploitation, persist in contemporary discourses concerning economic inequality and the governmental role in overseeing industry.

In summation, the Epoch of Elegance stands as a pivotal juncture in American history, emblematic of both the nation’s potential for expansion and the innate hurdles of swift transformation. This period of opulence and disparity prompted critical ruminations on the societal obligations of affluence and the necessity for societal overhauls—dialogues that endure as pertinent today. By scrutinizing the Epoch of Elegance, we glean insights into the forces that have sculpted American society and the persistent endeavor to harmonize progress with equity.

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• Essay: Economic inequality in India

অসাম্যের কারণ ও ফলাফল

অসাম্য কি সুযোগের, না ফলাফলের এটা অসাম্যের চরিত্র নিয়ে প্রশ্ন। যে বেশি পরিশ্রম করে বা বেশি উদ্যমী, সে বেশি রোজগার করলে সমস্যা কোথায়.

—প্রতীকী ছবি।

মৈত্রীশ ঘটক

অর্থনীতিবিদ তোমা পিকেটি এবং তাঁর সহগবেষক নীতিন কুমার ভারতী, লুকাস চ্যান্সেল, এবং আনমোল সোমাঞ্চি গত মাসে একটি গবেষণাপত্র প্রকাশ করেছেন, যার নাম: “ভারতে আয় ও সম্পদের অসাম্য, ১৯২২-২০২৩: বিলিয়নেয়ার রাজের উত্থান।” তাঁরা দেখাচ্ছেন যে, ২০২২-২৩ সালে আয়ের নিরিখে জনসংখ্যার ধনীতম এক শতাংশ মোট আয়ের ২৩% অর্জন করেছেন, আর বিত্তের হিসাবে ধনীতম এক শতাংশ মোট সম্পদের ৪০%-এর মালিক। শুধু গত এক শতকের পরিপ্রেক্ষিতেই বর্তমান ভারতে অসাম্যের মাত্রা সর্বাধিক নয়, সারা বিশ্বের নিরিখেও ভারত এখন অসাম্যের নিক্তিতে একদম প্রথম সারিতে। উদারীকরণের সময় থেকেই অসাম্যের এই ঊর্ধ্বগামী প্রবণতা সুস্পষ্ট— ডলারের মূল্যে বিলিয়নেয়ার, অর্থাৎ একশো কোটি ডলারের মালিকের সংখ্যা ১৯৯১ সালে ছিল এক, ২০২২ সালে হয়েছে ১৬২। আজ বিলিয়নেয়ার মানে অন্তত ৮০০০ কোটির টাকার মালিক।

অসাম্যের প্রসঙ্গে যে বিতর্ক তৈরি হয়, তাকে প্রধানত তিনটে ভাগে ভাগ করা যায়: নীতিগত, চরিত্রগত, ও ব্যবহারিক কৌশলগত। নীতিগত প্রশ্ন হল, অসাম্য কি মৌলিক ভাবেই অবাঞ্ছিত, না কি অন্তত আংশিক ভাবে সহনীয়? সুকান্ত ভট্টাচার্যের কবিতার পঙ্‌ক্তিতে এই প্রসঙ্গে বামপন্থীদের মনোভাব ধরা যেতে পারে: “বলতে পারো বড়মানুষ মোটর কেন চড়বে? গরীব কেন সেই মোটরের তলায় চাপা পড়বে?” আবার দক্ষিণপন্থীদের মত হল, মানুষের মেধা, কর্মদক্ষতা, বা অন্যান্য গুণের মতো আয় বা সম্পদের অসাম্যও অন্তত খানিকটা মাত্রায় স্বাভাবিক এবং তা মেনে নেওয়াই ভাল। তবে, অসাম্যের ধারণাটির মধ্যে যে আপেক্ষিক তুলনা আছে, তা ছেড়ে এই আলোচনায় দারিদ্র বা বঞ্চনা যে অবাঞ্ছনীয় তা নিয়ে বিতর্ক কম। আসল কথা হল, বড়লোকের গাড়ি থাকাটা সমস্যা নয়, সমস্যা হল গরিবের তার তলায় চাপা পড়া।

অসাম্য কি সুযোগের, না ফলাফলের? এটা অসাম্যের চরিত্র নিয়ে প্রশ্ন। যে বেশি পরিশ্রম করে বা বেশি উদ্যমী, সে বেশি রোজগার করলে সমস্যা কোথায়? ধরে নেওয়া যাক যে, অন্তত কিছুটা মাত্রায় ফলাফলের অসাম্য অবধারিত; এবং সরকার যদি করব্যবস্থার (বা প্রত্যক্ষ পুনর্বণ্টনের) মাধ্যমে সেই অসাম্য দূর করে সমতা আনার জন্য অত্যুৎসাহী হয়, তবে লোকে কাজ করার, উদ্যোগ করার, নতুন কিছু উদ্ভাবন করার উদ্যম হারাবে। তা হলেও প্রশ্ন থেকে যায়— যারা সুযোগ পাচ্ছে, তারাই কি সবচেয়ে যোগ্য, সবচেয়ে দক্ষ, সবচেয়ে প্রতিভাবান? অর্থাৎ, প্রশ্নটি মেধাতন্ত্রের। কে অস্বীকার করতে পারে যে, দারিদ্রের কারণে কত মানুষের স্বাভাবিক দক্ষতার বিকাশের সম্ভাবনা নষ্ট হয়ে যায়? আবার একই ভাবে উল্টো দিকে তুলনায় গুণহীন কেউ বিত্তবান পরিবারে জন্মের ফলে সমস্ত রকম সুযোগ পেয়ে কোনও পেশার বা ক্ষমতাশীল আসনের সর্বোচ্চ স্তরে ওঠে, তেমন উদাহরণও প্রচুর। এই দুই ভাবেই সুযোগের অসাম্যের কারণে যোগ্যতা আর ফলাফলের মধ্যে ফারাক থেকে যায় এবং তাই সুযোগের প্রসারের জন্যে করব্যবস্থার মাধ্যমে স্বাস্থ্য ও শিক্ষার ক্ষেত্রে সরকারি বিনিয়োগের স্বপক্ষে যুক্তিটি জোরদার।

যদি মেনেও নেওয়া হয় যে, খানিকটা অসাম্য অনিবার্য হলেও তা মূলত অবাঞ্ছিত এবং সুযোগের অসাম্যের সমস্যাটি অত্যন্ত গুরুত্বপূর্ণ, তা হলেও তা নিয়ে কী করা যেতে পারে? এটা ব্যবহারিক কৌশলের প্রশ্ন। আমূল সমাজ পরিবর্তন যদি সম্ভাবনার তালিকায় না থাকে, তা হলে হাতে থাকে করব্যবস্থা, আইনকানুন, এবং নিয়ন্ত্রণব্যবস্থা। এখানে বিতর্কটা বেশ জমে ওঠে। পিকেটি ও তাঁর সহগবেষকদের গবেষণাপত্রটির বিপক্ষে যে বক্তব্যগুলো এসেছে, তার মোদ্দা কথা হল, অর্থনৈতিক বৃদ্ধির সঙ্গে যেমন দারিদ্র কমে, তেমনই অসাম্যও বাড়ে, কারণ বৃদ্ধির ফলে অর্থনৈতিক সুযোগের যে প্রসার হয়, তার সদ্ব্যবহার করার ক্ষমতা বিত্তবান শ্রেণির বেশি। অতএব, বৃদ্ধি চাইলে অসাম্যকেও মেনে নিতে হবে। এই যুক্তি বলে যে, বৃদ্ধির কারণে অর্থনৈতিক সুযোগের বিস্তার হয়, যার ফলে শ্রমের বাজারে মজুরি ও আয় বাড়ে, এবং রাজকোষের আয়তন বৃদ্ধি হয়, যার থেকে নানা জনকল্যাণমূলক নীতির উপরে ব্যয়ের ক্ষমতা বাড়ে। শুধু অসাম্যের বৃদ্ধির দিকে তাকিয়ে উদারীকরণ-পূর্ব জমানার প্রতি স্মৃতিমেদুরতায় ভুগলে চলবে না, কারণ সেই সময় অসাম্য তুলনায় কম ছিল ঠিকই, কিন্তু মাথাপিছু জাতীয় আয় ও তার বৃদ্ধির হারও কম ছিল, আর দারিদ্র ছিল অনেকটা বেশি।

আর্থিক বৃদ্ধির প্রক্রিয়ার সুফল যদি সমস্ত শ্রেণির মানুষের মধ্যে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে— যাকে সর্বজনীন বৃদ্ধি বলা হয়ে থাকে— তা হলে উপরের যুক্তিটি বৈধ। এর নানা মাপকাঠি আছে। যেমন, দেখতে হবে যে, অসাম্য সত্ত্বেও দরিদ্রতর শ্রেণিগুলির আয় বৃদ্ধি যথেষ্ট হারে হচ্ছে কি না; শ্রমের বাজারে কর্মসংস্থান ও মজুরি যথেষ্ট হারে বাড়ছে কি না; করব্যবস্থা প্রগতিশীল কি না; এবং যে যে খাতে সরকারি বিনিয়োগ থেকে দরিদ্ররা সবচেয়ে লাভবান হন, সেগুলোর আপেক্ষিক গুরুত্ব বাড়ছে কি না।

আমার নিজস্ব গবেষণা থেকে দেখতে পাচ্ছি যে, উদারীকরণ-পরবর্তী জমানায় আয়ের নিরিখে শীর্ষ ১% এবং ১০% গোষ্ঠীর আয় গড় বৃদ্ধির হারের চেয়ে অধিকতর হারে বেড়েছে। শুধু তা-ই নয়, নিম্ন ৫০% এবং মধ্যবর্তী ৪০%-এর বৃদ্ধির হার কাছাকাছি ছিল, এবং দুটোই ছিল গড় বৃদ্ধির হারের নীচে। মনে রাখতে হবে যে, দরিদ্র শ্রেণির আয় যে-হেতু কম, তাই শতকরা হারের হিসাবে তা বাড়া তুলনায় সোজা। সেখানে যদি বিত্তবান শ্রেণির আয় বেশি হারে বাড়ে, তা হলে অসাম্য— যার মাত্রা এখনই উদ্বেগজনক অবস্থায়— তা সময়ের সঙ্গে আরও বাড়তেই থাকবে। বিশ্বের সর্বত্রই এক অবস্থা, তা কিন্তু নয়। যেমন, উদাহরণ হিসাবে বলা যায় যে, চিনের গড় আয়বৃদ্ধির হারের তুলনায় শীর্ষ ১% এবং ১০% গোষ্ঠীর আয় বৃদ্ধির হারের তফাত ভারতের মতোই, কিন্তু মধ্যবর্তী ৪০% এবং নিম্নতম ৫০% গোষ্ঠীর আয় গড় বৃদ্ধির হারের তুলনায় ভারতের থেকে অনেকটা বেশি হারে বেড়েছে।

শ্রমের বাজার নিয়ে এই পাতায় একটি লেখায় দেখিয়েছি যে, দেশের সার্বিক আয়বৃদ্ধির তুলনায় শ্রমের বাজারে কাজের গুণগত মান ও মজুরির বর্তমান চিত্রটি যথেষ্ট উদ্বেগজনক (‘কাজের বাজারে অন্ধকার’, ১-৩)। কোনও শ্রমিক নিয়োগ না করা স্বনিযুক্ত কর্মী, ঠিকা শ্রমিক ও অবৈতনিক পারিবারিক শ্রমে নিযুক্ত কর্মীরা দেশের মোট কর্মরত জনসংখ্যার তিন-চতুর্থাংশ এবং গত এক দশকে মোট কর্মরত জনসংখ্যায় এদের অনুপাত বেড়েছে। মজুরির দিক থেকে দেখলেও, দেশের সার্বিক আয়বৃদ্ধির তুলনায় শ্রমজীবী শ্রেণির গড় প্রকৃত আয়ের বৃদ্ধির হার নেহাতই অকিঞ্চিৎকর। তাই শ্রমের বাজার থেকেও যে ছবি ফুটে উঠছে তাতে বৃদ্ধির প্রক্রিয়া থেকে দরিদ্রতর শ্রেণিও যথেষ্ট উপকৃত হচ্ছেন, এই যুক্তিটি এখানে খাটছে না।

কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের কর রাজস্বের ১৭% আসছে জিএসটি এবং অন্যান্য পরোক্ষ কর থেকে, আয়কর থেকে আসছে ১৫% আর কর্পোরেশন কর থেকে আসছে ১৫%। মনে রাখতে হবে, জিএসটি-র দুই-তৃতীয়াংশ আসে জনসংখ্যার দরিদ্রতম ৫০ শতাংশের কাছ থেকে, এক-তৃতীয়াংশ মধ্যবর্তী ৪০ শতাংশ থেকে, এবং শুধুমাত্র ৩-৪ শতাংশ আসে শীর্ষ ১০ শতাংশ ধনীদের থেকে। সম্পদের উপরে কর তুলে দেওয়া হয়েছে ২০১৬ সাল থেকে। ভারতের মতো দেশে, যেখানে জনসংখ্যার ৯০%-এর বেশি আয়করের আওতার বাইরে, সেখানে করসংগ্রহের প্রক্রিয়াটি সহজ নয় ঠিকই, তবুও করব্যবস্থার যে ছবিটা ফুটে উঠছে, তাকে ‘প্রগতিশীল’ বলা যায় না।

২০১৪ সাল থেকে জাতীয় আয়ের অনুপাতে শিক্ষার ক্ষেত্রে বরাদ্দের হার ধারাবাহিক ভাবে নিম্নগামী। স্বাস্থ্যের ক্ষেত্রে বরাদ্দের হার খানিকটা বেড়েছিল ২০১৭ থেকে ২০২১ অবধি। কিন্তু তার পর থেকে সে হারও নিম্নমুখী, এখন তা ২০১৪ সালের বরাদ্দের হারের থেকে সামান্যই বেশি। তবে, অতিমারির সময় থেকে রেশনব্যবস্থায় বরাদ্দ খানিকটা বেড়েছে, যেমন তা বেড়েছে আবাসন, এবং পানীয় জল খাতেও। দেরিতে হলেও এবং আংশিক হলেও সরকারি নীতির এই জনকল্যাণমুখী-অভিমুখ কাম্য। কিন্তু সার্বিক যে ছবিটা ফুটে উঠছে তা আশাজনক নয়।

করব্যবস্থা যথেষ্ট প্রগতিশীল নয় বলেই যে অতিধনীরা লাভবান হয়ে থাকেন, শুধু তা নয়। সাম্প্রতিক নির্বাচনী বন্ড-কাণ্ডে এটা স্পষ্ট যে, তাঁরা রাজনৈতিক ভাবে সক্রিয় এবং নানা ভাবে সরকারি নীতির উপরে নিজেদের সুবিধার্থে তাঁরা প্রত্যক্ষ প্রভাব ফেলেন। সব মিলিয়ে, সর্বজনীন বৃদ্ধির কারণেই আর্থিক অসাম্য মানতে হবে, এই যুক্তিটি নিতান্ত অচল।

অন্য বিষয়গুলি:

গরমে নিষ্প্রাণ মুখের হাল ফেরাবে মুলতানি মাটির প্যাক! সঙ্গে আর কী মেশাবেন?

কার্তিকের ৮৩ রানের ঝড়েও হার কোহলিদের, আইপিএলে রেকর্ড রান তুলে জয় হায়দরাবাদের

নিয়ন্ত্রণ হারিয়ে সেতু থেকে পড়ে গেল কলকাতাগামী বাস! ওড়িশার জাজপুরে মৃত অন্তত পাঁচ, আহত ৩০

৩ নায়ক: মুম্বইকে যাঁদের দাপটে হারিয়ে লিগ-শিল্ড পেল মোহনবাগান

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