Mind the Gap

from David Ruccio David Leonhardt, in an otherwise interesting post on slow economic growth and increasing inequality in the United States, “which has concentrated the economy’s modest gains among a small share of the population,” actually underestimates the increase in inequality over the course of the past three decades.  source Here is what I’ve come [...]

from David Ruccio American exceptionalism has long been a contested notion. But there is one area in which the United States has been exceptional from the very declaration of independence: the relative inequality of the distribution of income. In 1774, the United States was much more equal than England and Wales (and more equal, it [...]

from David Ruccio Mind the gap.

There’s no doubt that shifts in family structure play a role in both inequality and in its inter-generational transmission. The gap in resources (but in terms of money, social capital, and parental attention) available to a child of two high-earning professionals, and those available to a kid raised by a lone working-class mom is much bigger than the gap that would exist if the inequality in earnings weren’t intensified by the difference in family structure.

(cc photo by Nesster)

One of the great questions of current times, and this isn?t one that is restricted to the US either, is that if labour productivity has been rising strongly and wages haven?t then where has all that extra wealth/income been going? Paul Krugman picks up on a paper which attempts to describe this: Larry Mishel has ...

Why is income inequality rising for U.S. families and households, but not for individual Americans?