... Draft Why Income Equality is Important Arthur MacEwan[1] March 2009 “The social system is not an unchangeable order beyond human control but a pattern of human action.”—John Rawls (1971, p. 102) In recent years “poverty reduction” has become the watchword in development agencies, in international lending institutions, and among development economists generally. The focus on poverty reduction reached a high point perhaps with the articulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and with the extensive analytic work that has accompanied the MDGs.[2] Yet, much of the discussion of poverty reduction and economic development in low and middle income countries has either ignored the issue of income distribution or has tended to view income distribution only in terms of its impact on economic growth. Poverty and inequality, however, are intimately bound up with one another.[3] Both as an analytic issue and as a policy issue, there are severe limitations in attempting to deal with poverty – or, more broadly, with economic well-being – without also examining income inequality. Indeed, it is questionable that we can even define poverty independently of income distribution. In this essay, I want to develop the argument that economists and economic policy-makers should focus much greater attention on inequality as measured by the distribution of income (and wealth). The traditional focus simply on absolute levels of income as a measure of poverty...
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...Impact of Income Inequality on Social Well-being The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as the “complete state of physical, mental or social well-being,” (2001:3). Through the Quality of Life survey, the well-being of societies is measured, where living conditions and ‘quality of life’ are found to be important concepts to the overall wellbeing of countries (Eurofound, 2012). The United Nations (UN) asserts that global happiness can only be achieved if environmental and social well-being accompany economic development (UN DESA, 2013). While well-being indicates living conditions and resource dispersal, the lack of social well-being relates to “social and income equality, social capital, social trust, social connectedness and social networks,” (Eurofound, 2012, FPH, 2010). Although there is national and patterned variation, academics have found that...
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...article “Defending the one percent” by N. Gregory Mankiw (Journal of Economics Perspective-volume 3, number 27-Summer 2013-Pages 21-34) is an attempt to analyze some reasons for not having an equal distribution of income, regarding special attention to the one percent of the people with the highest income. This issue has been debated for decades and has kept the attention of many economists. Since this disparity leads to inequality, the role the Government has been subject of analysis in order to stablish the level of involvement and the mechanism to solve the problem via taxation. The paper starts pointing out an example of disruption of a utopic economy where a new entrepreneurial idea has come up. In this case, everyone wants the new product, but there is only one provider; therefore, the demand exceeds the supply and the entrepreneur ended up being richer that the others. This unequal redistribution of well-being started as a voluntary exchange, so there are two questions the author brings up, related to contribution of the entrepreneurial to the alteration of the public policy and whether or not this policy should remain unchanged. This is a reflection of what has been happening in the United States where the income has grown, but not in a uniform way across the income distribution, which leads to the question for policymakers to make taxation more progressive. The second issue in the paper is related to inefficiency as a result of inequality. Taking as example the Pareto criterion...
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...High Income Inequality Helped Early Societies Spread, Study Finds This relates to class structure as well as stratification Huff Post BUISNESS March 20, 2014 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/02/class-warfare-societies_n_987882.html There has been much written lately about income and wealth inequality. As the administration tries to grapple with a debt crisis, sociologists have much to consider about the widening gap between the haves and have not’s. Why do cultures have a class structure, rich, poor and middle – instead of being egalitarian with resources shared equally by everyone? With the information surfacing around income inequality, a new study indicates that unequal access to resources brings about stratification, (Rich v. Poor, Haves v. Have not’s), and causes migration, displacing egalitarian societies. Researchers at Stanford used computer simulation to compare migration for egalitarian and stratified societies. (1) The researchers determined that when resources were consistently scarce, egalitarian societies – shared resources – remained more stable than stratified societies. Unequal sharing in the stratified societies gave those societies more incentive to migrate. Therefore, during periods of shortage, stratified societies were able to migrate, and egalitarian societies were not able to adapt to changing conditions as quickly. Stratified societies push egalitarian societies away from resources. Today stratified societies vastly out number egalitarian...
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...Running head: INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES Income Distribution in the United States and the Lorenz Curve 1 Market economies are favored and well-known for generating macroeconomic growth and progress in industrialized nations, such as the United States. Numerous academic studies and economic research have been done not only to measure economic growth, but also to analyze any disparities in income distributions among the general American population. This paper will examine trends and patterns of American wages since the 1970s, focusing on shifts in income distributions to see if these shifts can be interpreted as income inequality across different sectors of our society. Furthermore, this paper will study two important and interlinked methods of measuring income inequality, which are the Lorenz Curve and the Gini Coefficient Index. The Executive Branch of our federal government and the U.S. Congress keep a close eye on income distributions throughout the entire nation. These bodies rely heavily on data collected and analyzed by non-partisan agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and academic institutitions that provide data and statistical analysis to assist in economic and budgetary decisions made by elected officials concerning a wide array of policy issues such as taxes, social insurance programs and other issues that impact the overall economy...
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...Region Abstract Over the last two decades, scholars have investigated the two-way relationship between gender inequality on the one hand, and economic development and growth on the other. Research in this area offers new ways to address the economic stagnation and crisis developing countries have experienced over the last two decades. This paper contributes to that literature, exploring the channels by which gender inequality affects, and in important ways, constrains economic development and growth in the Caribbean region. It further explores the endogeneity of gender inequality to the macroeconomic policy environment. The paper concludes with a discussion of economic policies that can promote a win-win outcome—greater gender equality and economic development and growth. Key Words: gender, inequality, development, household economics, macroeconomic policy, Caribbean. 1 Micro-Macro Linkages Between Gender, Development, and Growth: Implications for the Caribbean Region I. Introduction Since the 1970s, developing countries have faced substantial challenges to improving living standards. With the...
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...of inequality in income distribution. Gini coefficient is specified as a ratio between 0 and 1. A society that tallies 0.0 on the Gini scale is said to possess perfect equality in income distribution. A society with a score of 1 suggests total inequality. Gini coefficient expects that no person in a society has negative wealth or net income. The coefficient is named after its inventor, the Italian statistician Corrado Gini (23rd May, 1884-13th March, 1965). The Gini coefficient is usually defined mathematically based on the Lorenz curve, which plots the proportion of the total income of the population (y axis) that is cumulatively earned by the bottom x% of the population (see diagram). The line at 45 degrees thus represents perfect equality of incomes. The Gini coefficient can then be thought of as the ratio of the area that lies between the line of equality and the Lorenz curve (marked 'A' in the diagram) over the total area under the line of equality (marked 'A' and 'B' in the diagram); i.e., G=A/(A+B). The Gini coefficient can range from 0 to 1; it is sometimes multiplied by 100 to range between 0 and 100. A low Gini coefficient indicates a more equal distribution, with 0 corresponding to complete equality, while higher Gini coefficients indicate more unequal distribution, with 1 corresponding to complete inequality. To be validly computed, no negative goods can be distributed. Thus, if the Gini coefficient is being used to describe household income inequality, then...
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...Inequality of income' and 'equality of opportunities' in South East Asia I believe that I live in a world full of opportunities and I get given these opportunities everyday. I believe that a person is made by the opportunity that they take and I believe that they will only benefit from these opportunities that they partake in and create a future with these opportunities … wait but what IF that hard work and perseverance was all for nothing and you get treated unfairly based on your gender, race or background at the end of the day. Is that fair? Well my fellow people that is the society in which we live in. DO you want to change it cause I do, but I feel in order to change it we should start off with where we come from. I am a Malaysian and I would like to fight for the equality of opportunities and income in South East Asia. I would first like to bring attention to equal opportunities, I fight for equal opportunities because it means that everyone has a fair chance to succeed in society in material of their status , gender or race .The key in creating equal opportunities is EDUCATION. Education is key because in South East Asia there are only THREE economically develop country.. why so little to the lack in emphasise of education. In order to tackle this problem we need to inform,invest,implement. Due to majority of the South East Asian country being Less economic develop we should inform the citizens the importance of education and how education is vital...
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...Gender equality and equity are useful aspects in the development of communities. The importance of gender equality is underscored by its inclusion and recognised globally as one of the eight Millennium Development Goals. In this writing the writer would first define terms gender equality and equity. The writer is going to dwell much on issues like income generating projects, education, health services, politics, family issues, and religion which are some of the useful aspects that promotes community development. Gender equality is, first and foremost, a human right. According to Momsen (2004), gender equality means equal valuation of men and women and sameness in the enjoyment of rights, power, opportunities, treatment, and control of resources between male and females in the society. P (2007) congruently agrees with Momsen when depict Gender equality, as that men and women should receive equal treatment, unless there is a sound biological reason for different treatment. This concept is a key factor in the development of communities, where the ultimate aim is to provide equality in law and equality in social situations, especially in democratic activities and securing equal pay for equal work. Momsen (2004) went on to define gender equity as a process of achieving fairness and justice among men and women in distribution of opportunities, responsibilities and resources as well as accessing and controlling benefits from these resources. Kaiser (2005) as well defines gender...
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...In a democratic liberal society today, the value of individual’s is vital. Every individual’s voice must be heard through democratic means. Examples of democratic means would be protests and petitions. Individuals have the right and should be able to freely practice their rights and freedoms without any collective rights and freedoms restrictions. This means that individuals are needed in society in order to have a balanced and sustainable social, economic, and political system. In source one, the image provided shows British women lined up against the side of a London road peacefully protesting about women’s right and freedoms as well as gender equality. In the distance, their are men walking around in small groups going about their work....
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...where related inequalities in outcome do not surface would be considered a society guided by the principles of distributive justice. The concept includes the available quantities of goods, the process by which goods are to be distributed, and the resulting distribution of the goods to the members of the society. Distributive justice concentrates on outcomes. (Phelps, 1987) Distribution in economics refers to the way total output, income, or wealth is distributed among individuals or among the factors of production. Factors included in this are labor, land, and capital (Atkins, Bourguignin, ed., 2000). In general theory and the national income and product accounts, each unit of output corresponds to a unit of income. One use of national accounts is for classifying factor incomes and measuring their individual shares, as in National Income (Atkins, Bourguignin, ed., 2000). But, where focus is on income of persons or households, adjustments to the national accounts or other data sources are frequently used. Here, interest is often on the fraction of income on the factors that might affect them such as, globalization, tax policy, technology, etc.. (Atkins, Bourguignin, ed., 2000) Governments continuously make and change laws affecting the distribution of economic benefits and goods in their societies. Almost all changes, from the standard tax and industry laws to divorce laws have some distributive effect. As a result, different societies have different distributions. Every society...
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...A Long Way to Equality A Long Way to Equality By: Tanyalynn Muna ETH Cultral Diversity 125 September 22, 2013 Sharon White A Long Way to Equality [Abstract] Over time the fight for equality in America has been fought by many different races, genders, and groups of people. Women have fought for things like the right to vote, work and be treated as equal individuals for more than a decade and though there has been a little head way in our society there are still some things women are looked over. The same could be said for the gay community. There are big issues that will touch on such as work, marriage, adoption, and opportunities that the gay communities have been discriminated against. A Long Way to Equality A Long Way to Equality For decades now women have been fighting for equality in many areas of life. Wethier it was the right to vote, equal opportunity in work environments or just to be treated as equals it has been a fight since at least the late 1700’s. Between the 1700’s early and the1800’s it was under common law that a woman leaving her husband not only had to give up her name but also all the property and belongs to her husband. It was as if all the work that women did to maintain a home was not good enough to be able to keep what was obtains during the marriage. In 1776 Abigail Adams wrote her husband in reference to the Deceleration of Independence reminding him that women “will not...
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...their ability to the right to vote, denies their right to self determination as they are not allowed to have a say in the intervention and the specific laws that govern them. Meaning the government is now allowed to make decisions about aboriginal peoples own lives and community. This is a violation of article 3, 4 and 6 specifically underling that, Indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development, right to self-determination, and to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions and lastly the right to a nationality, although these rights were approved by the government they are being violated. 'The Government doesn't listen to us... They hear, they forget, go back home, write what they think. Our messages are not going into their thinking... we expect the Government to listen to us and value our messages." (Submission from the Elders and community members of Ramingining, NE Arnhemland no. 29, 2012, 'Stronger Futures: Another name for the intervention) With these specific instances coming into place in relation to the political violation of the intervention the Racial Discrimination Act becoming legal in the remote area of the Northern Territory is the reason the indigenous community no longer have a choice as this legislation had to become...
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...beginning of the United States of America, we fought for freedom and equality, yet in a time like today we seem to have forgotten what that meant. From the biggest thing like racial injustice to even what we might push off to the side like education, we have lacked that equality in. If you ask a student from an urban area a question like how to calculate moles they might look at you like you are crazy. If you ask a student from a more suburban area, it seems to be like they know more than you expected. The biggest difference between Urban and Suburban education is the equity. How much is given to each school as a resource and how much can be taken....
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...proper distribution of burdens and benefits is known as 1. Distributive justice 2. Retributive justice 3. Economic welfare 4. Laissez-faire economics 1. Who made the violation of one’s moral rights the defining characteristic of injustice? 1. John Stuart Mill 2. Adam Smith 3. Karl Marx 4. Robert Nozick 1. Rawls’s theory of justice is 1. A libertarian theory 2. An egalitarian theory 3. A utilitarian theory 4. A retributivist theory 1. Justice for Mill was ultimately a matter of 1. Luck 2. Promoting social well-being 3. Property rights 4. Enforced equality 1. Brandt defends the equality of after-tax income on 1. Libertarian grounds 2. Deontological grounds 3. Utilitarian grounds 4. Egalitarian grounds 1. Libertarians assume that liberty means 1. Freedom 2. Noninterference 3. Equality 4. Liberation 1. Nozick begins with the premise that people have 1. Certain basic moral rights 2. Equality of income 3. Equality of opportunity 4. Certain basic positive rights 1. Nozick refers to the firm restrictions that rights impose as 1. Side constraints 2. Lockean constraints 3. Side bars 4. Liberty constraints 1. Nozick calls his theory of justice the 1. Welfare theory 2. Lockean theory 3. Absolute theory 4. Entitlement theory 1. Locke held that individuals are entitled to 1. The products of a welfare state 2. What they can acquire 3. What they possess 4. The products of their labor 1. For Locke, prior to the formation...
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