B. Inequalities measure and state of the art
B.1 Inequalities types and measurement
Usually inequality refers to economic inequality that is either: income inequality, the distribution of income among a group, or wealth inequality, the difference (or the distribution) of quantity of money and valuable possessions.
But it can also refer to education inequality, that is the difference in ease to a quality education, or healthcare inequality, that is the difference of difficulty in access to healthcare services.
Economic inequality will be the focus here and more specifically the effect of this example of helicopter drop on income inequality, the amount of cash payment was too small to have had a measurable impact on wealth inequality.
A number
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Once this data is obtained, the Gini index can be computed through the formula:
where the x series corresponds to the reported incomes.
(the formula can be changed to include weight in order to take into account misrepresentation of the collected data)
B.2 Inequality over time and over the globe
Surveys have only been implemented worldwide recently (since roughly thirty years), some researchers (such as Piketty and Milanovic) have however developed database history tracking inequality along the ages.
Figure 4 : Estimated Global Gini Coefficient
(Source Milanovic 2005, Maddison 2007)
By retracing and estimating the global inequality of the world since the 19th century, Milanovic has shown that inequality progressively evolved from what he calls class inequality, to locational inequality (Milanovic, 2005).
Before the industrial revolution, inequality originated mainly from the difference of income inside countries. Since the industrial revolution, western countries’ standard of living has evolved a lot (and tend to keep evolving) while other countries have beneficiated from this development only recently through
Economic inequality is the uneven distribution of wealth and differences in economic security found in each individual in a specific country or region. Today, the topic is being discussed profusely by the American presidential candidates and by many writers around the world because of the beliefs of whether there should or should not be wealth redistribution policies put into action. Larry Schwartz, the author of “35 Soul-Crushing Facts about American Income Inequality”, makes a valid claim that economic inequality is the foundation of the problems that the entire American population face such as poverty and a hindrance of economic growth. To begin with, Schwartz has an exceptional argument that the high rate of economic inequality, like is
Wealth, race, gender, and mental illness has torn society apart and lead to inequality. These major reasons for inequality has affected everyone in its path leading to major consequences as well as issues and problems. In China, a new found wealth has left the social classes more divided and issues are beginning to rise. Meanwhile in the U.S., wealth is destroying students and unequal views toward specific types of people are weakening the patriotic bond. To begin, there are many types and factors that play a part in inequality and the consequences of societies from it, but one of the main reasons and apparent factors is wealth.
When people hear the word inequality they think of inequality as a circumstance just involving race, things like being unequal with another person cause of your skin color or cause of your traditions. However, inequality covers many other broad factors one factor other than race being income inequality. In “Inequality Has Been Going on Forever…but That Doesn’t Mean It’s Inevitable.” (The New York Times, 02.05.14), David Leonhardt points out that Income inequality has come to be extremely high, the middle class is shrinking while the rich become richer. This attitude is encouraged by various factors: society, taxation, and how much time has passed.
Many solutions, such as social investment, early childhood education, job training for young adults are avenues for addressing the shrinking middle class. Many of these ideas have been around since the 1990s, and most know that they will work, however, no one wants to pay the cost of such social investments. Thus, this is a fine example of how one topic, income inequality, can be addressed from two different angles, that of economist and that of sociologists, and what contributes to the inequality can be supported based on what is actually measured. In this specific comparison, due to the differences in disciplines addressing the same issue, the variables measured are completely different and as a result, yield very different results.
While wealth inequality has always been an issue in the United States, it has became more of a pressing matter in America since the late 1980’s, and has only continued
By 1940, a child raised in an average American household had a 92% of making more money than their parents. As time progressed the averages began to decline. In the 1950s, the average still maintained to be elevated but receded to 79%. Rates dropped to 50% in the 1980s and the numbers presently continue to deteriorate (Leonhardt).
Income inequality refers to the even/unevenness of how income is distributed in society. Income inequality in the United States has been described as “the defining issue of our time” by President Barack Obama in 2012.The US is facing a significantly high level of income inequality because the people with the highest incomes are taking home the majority share of the economy and there is a large gap between these people and the poorest people in America. Income inequality is most of the time measures via something called the Gini coefficient, this measures the extent of which the distribution of income among individuals/households in an economy is near to a perfectly equal distribution. For example, a rating of 0 on the Gini coefficient would
People around the world have many different political views whether they are going for the same candidate or not. Some people are pro-life, and some aren’t, some people think we need to spend more money to help close our debt, and some people think that we need to just invest it into American businesses. There are people who are Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, you name it in the USA we have it. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave and people interpret it in so many different ways. I am sure that you could find maybe three people with the exact same ideas as you from the big federal money spending problems, to immigration problems, all the way to the other problems such as equality for the LGBT group, or legalizing marijuana in all 50 states.
Throughout all of history wealth has never been distributed evenly; no monarchist kingdom, communist utopia, socialistic society, or modern free market has ever existed in a state of equilibrium. The laws of the land have always seemed to operate in a manner of some sort of prejudice. The rich generate wealth at a much higher rate than the poor. Income inequality has existed, in some form or another, since the first trade transaction. Since, we have begun record keeping, statistics show the rich controlling increasing amounts of the total income.
Income Inequality Income Inequality or “wage gap” is a big topic for freedom fighters and liberals for the simple fact that it isn’t equal for everyone. Because the wage gap is so prominent it's one of the biggest “facts” that discrimination is still apart of everyday American society. The wage gap from these radical interest groups think the economy is get a dollar take a dollar instead of a free flow economy. This misguided idea of the economy is absolutely not true and isn’t at the fault of the Government, but the people.
The thing that stuck out the most to me in this documentary, was the fact of how much everything is connected, but due to this it seems like everyone follows the same mistakes. Except unlike the middle class and poor who attempt to save, but cannot. The rich continue to save money when they can afford to use it, and with the fact that the rich are technically not being taxed equally like everyone else is, it’s just not right. With the fact that wages have stagnated as life costs continue to rise, higher than what middle class wages can afford. It’s as if life is too expensive for anyone to live off their wages.
These inequalities effects so many people in society both wealthy and people live in poverty. In America low wage workers have some options like little education and having transportations issue. These people in society have very complex issues and it is difficult they change the situation. These people have low self-esteem they learned in every job.
The causes of inequality in the United States are diverse. The racial difference that exists in the United States has a major impact on the wage distribution, the blacks and Hispanics citizen are less respected than the white population. The other major cause of this inequality is the lack of high skilled people. There is a real problem of education level in the United States. The impacts of income inequality on the US population are also different.
In the discussion of social inequality, one cannot leave out the sociological theories and models proposed by Karl Marx and Adam Smith. Generally, social inequality refers to the presence of unequal treatment, opportunities and rewards tied to people of various social standings within the hierarchy of a community group or society. Some common types of social inequality include wealth and income disparity as well as social class stratification. For Marx and Smith, both had explored the various types of social inequality in society.
Equality, like fairness, is an important value in most societies. Irrespective of ideology, culture, and religion, people care about inequality. Widening inequality also has significant implications for growth and macroeconomic stability, it can concentrate political and decision making power in the hands of a few, lead to a suboptimal use of human resources, cause investment-reducing political and economic instability, and raise crisis risk. The economic and social fallout from the global financial crisis and the resultant headwinds to global growth and employment have heightened the attention to rising income inequality.