French social philosopher, Alex de Tocqueville (1805-1889), once said, “However energetically society in general may strive to make all citizens equal and alike, the personal pride of each individual will always make him try to escape from the common level, and he will form some inequality somewhere to his own profit.” Through the ages, income inequality has caused class conflict, created political systems (communism), and has simultaneously promoted vast increases in wealth and technological advances. The purpose of this paper is to research and examine the benefits and detriments, or pros and cons, of income inequality and to then render my opinion regarding my findings. Because income inequality is vast in nature, this paper will serve to focus on only some of the important aspects of income inequality that fall under the category of “pros,” which include education, competition, and how income inequality stimulates productivity. In addition to focusing on some of the pro aspects of income inequality, this paper will also serve to outline some of the important aspects the “cons” which include concentration of wealth, social consequences, and job flight.
While the inequality between wages and income are often frowned upon by modern middle-class and lower-class societies, the gap between the wealthy and poor often proves beneficial. Because the difference in income levels between these two classes of society are steadily increasing, the incentives of the less wealthy are increasing as a result. An incentive is any factor (financial or non-financial) that enables or motivates a particular course of action. The impact of this increasing gap has created a higher demand for education, produced a competition among people to...
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...d supply of high paying jobs benefits the economy because it rewards those who are willing to seek the necessary precautions to reach them, which in turn creates a better stimulated and more productive work force.
Income inequality has been and will forever continue to be a highly discussed topic in society. As a social experiment, income equality has historically failed. The adage from the communist era “from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs,” ran counter to human nature and experience. On balance, there are positive aspects to unequal income which include; its success in creating a more educated work force, competition among people to succeed and more stimulated productivity, which do not always, but tend to balance out any negative impacts such as; concentration of wealth, social consequences and outsourcing, that it may have.
In Confronting Inequality, Paul Krugman discusses the cost of inequality and possible solutions. Krugman argues to say that it is a fantasy to believe the rich live just like the middle class. Then, he goes into detail about how middle class families struggle to try to give their children a better life and how education plays a factor in children’s future lives. For example, children’s ability to move into higher education could be affected by their parents economic status. Also, He discusses how politicians play a role in the inequality, because most of politicians are in the upper economic class. Finally, Krugman says how we could possibly have solutions to these various inequalities, but how America won’t get
Sklar, Holly. “The Growing Gulf Between the Rich and the Rest of Us”. They Say I Say. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
Wealth inequality did not always exist in human life. In fact, “Human life have not only been changed, but revolutionized, within the past hundred years” (Carnegie 1). There used to be
The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.
The unsolved issue of inequality is still at the forefront of public debate. In Inequality, What Can be Done? by Anthony B. Atkinson, Atkinson sets out proposals that will bring about a shift in the distribution of income towards less inequality. Atkinson seeks to show what can be done now to reduce the extent of inequality. The world faces great problem, but the future is very much in our control. It has been commonly addressed that the improvement of education and skills is the solution to inequality however, we must rethink fundamental aspects in our society such as capital sharing, progressive taxation, as well as employment and pay in the future to limit economic and social inequality.
Income inequality not only harms us fiscally, but also affects our mental and physical wellbeing; therefore, it is important to identify the right ways to control wealth distribution among people.
Income inequality in the United States, as of 2007, has reached levels not seen since 1928. In 1928, the top one percent received nearly 24% of all income within the United States (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). This percentage fell to nearly nine percent in 1975, but has risen to 23.5% as of 2007 (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). Meanwhile, in 2007 (see
To analyze income inequality to its full extent, it is important to compare and contrast the noticeable differences in the 20th century to now between domestic and international inequalities. The different paths that income inequality and corruption take reveal that income inequality is not a result of capitalist or socialist economic policies, but from corruption.The U.S. and most of Eastern Europe at the current moment are some of the most unequal income wise and corruption. They both took very different paths to becoming industrialized countries. As industrialism was on the rise in the late 1700s in Western Europe, so did the opportunity to make money through a new- fashioned way. No more medieval feudalism and being born into the power and riches-it was a time of opportunity. For the most industrialized nations of that time period, the quality and standard of living rose, for new efficient inventions were being made and education was becoming cheaper and socialized.
Recently, studies have shown that income inequality has many connections that have caused the gap in the United States. According to the research I found, income inequality is connected to corruption, trade, wages of workers, and education. The world income inequality had declined since the twentieth century according to the studies found (Clark). Corruption falls increasing on low income individuals more than higher income individuals. Additionally, the trade theory suggests that the free trade might have level up the income inequality higher within countries by the different patterns of wages and demand for workers who are skilled and unskilled (Silva and Leichenko). Moreover, the education of wealthier people has it easier because the learning efforts of education are unbalanced. Besides, income inequality in the United States is hurting our economy due to the all the issues of corruption, trade, wages, and education. Suggested by Robert H. Frank article called “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore,” the income inequality is bad for our economy (Frank).
The solution for this issue is we can tax more the people, who from high-income groups and give these money for the people, who from middle-income groups and low-income groups. However, this solution has never been popular in America, and it is quite hard for the government to do this. On the other hand, America is able to decrease the educational gap between rich and poor people. For instance, colleges and universities can sponsor the scholarship for student, who from the low class. Even though this solution is not a quickly way, it is the only method for inequality in America (Keane,
Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...
Income inequality is not necessarily harmful to our society because if the rich is getting richer they are able to invest more of their money to create business which will lead to more employment of people in the lower and middle class. A topic we also discussed in class was about the income mobility. The idea behind income mobility is that the poor does not always remain poor. People who were poor in the past are usually not poor later on in the future because the size of the economic pie increase too. People may think that the rise of income inequality is bad, but I do not really think it is as bad as many make it out to be. A solution should be put in place for a better distribution of the wealth, but I do not believe it should really be a concern because it seems to be something that will always exist. Even though income inequality exist or even if it is rising, people are better off today than they were before. The middle and poor class as discussed in class are getting a smaller peace of the pie, but it is larger that before, and with income mobility, the poor keep pushing forward regardless of the rich getting richer. Income inequality is a debated subjected, and I believe it will always be a debated subject. However in this class, so far, I have leaned that income inequality is not such as a bad thing as people make it sound. Income inequality has two side
The unequal distribution of wealth is seen as a negative and ongoing problem and debate within American politics and society. There is a great deal of evidence to back up why wealth distribution is damaging the American ideals of life. It also carries inevitable and undetermined consequences for our nation. How resources are distributed within a country depends on where the resources were found. For example, numerous people will move to an area that is rich with resources in order in ensure job security. Just because a country is fruitful in a resource does not mean that that particular country is wealthy. In fact, the laborers are paid very minimal...
The structural-functional approach of poverty in America is all levels of stratification (economic, social classes) contribute important parts of keeping societies stabilize. Stratification has positives. “Society must somehow distribute its members in social positions and induce them to perform the duties of these positions” (Davis and Moore, 1945). Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore came with their theory that stratification is key to a structured society. Various Jobs in society require a different level of education, experience, and skills that deserves a high economic reward system to be the most qualified. High-level expertise occupations (doctors, lawyers, CEO, etc.) motivates people to achieve higher occupations by offering high finical rewards for accomplishments.
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.