I love a story that has two of my favorite things, economics and candy corn. In this short audio clip the income growth of poor, middle income, and wealthy (top one percent) Americans is explained. Are you surprised by which groups income has grown the most?
This is a topic that is looked at often in Public Economics courses if you are interested. One measure of income equality is the Gini coefficient. If the Gini coefficient is 0, then income is completely equal, and if it is 1 then it is the highest possible inequality. For the record the USA has a Gini coefficient in the .45-.49 range (according to Wikipedia). In your opinion should the Gini coefficient be 0? Or, is some inequality a good thing?
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2/20/2012 11:50:22 am
I am a little surprised that the rich grew so much more over the years rather than the middle and low class. I would figure there would be a more increase in the middle class because people who are in the low class one would think they would work hard and strive to get into the middle class section. In to days world more people are getting more educated and earning degrees but that is obviously not helping that much as the rich just significantly get richer. and i feel that some inequality is a good thing because it makes people want to strive and do better to move up in class. If the Gini coefficient is 0 then there be less competition. Comments are closed.
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