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effect of income inequality in us
education and social class inequality
education and social class inequality
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it can be interpreted that this specific type of inequality can be damaging to a nation’s economic growth and should be remedied to improve that nation’s health as well as the well-being of its citizens.
What are the solutions to income inequality? The solutions to income inequality include both internal and external factors. Based on econometrics, the most important internal factors contributing to a decline in income inequality are policy changes, higher education spending, more tax revenue and robust GDP growth. An external factor that contributed was elevated Foreign Direct Investment. Growing exchange rates have also had a small impact on the decline of income inequality. Income inequality rates fell by three-fourths Gini points
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In the same year, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expanded the current cash transfer system Brazil had at the time to create Bolsa Familia with the purpose of reducing poverty, improving public services like healthcare and education, and extending the program to include more citizens. The new implementation were able to positively affect the lives of many of its natives given its short lifespan; the poverty rate decreased from 37.5% in 2001 to 24.9% in 2009, public spending in public education led to improved quality and an increase from 68.5% to 81.5% in enrollment, and enrollment into Bolsa Familia expanded from 6.5 million in 2004 to over 12 million in 2011. The policy tackled income inequality as the cash transfer were accountable for 80% of “Brazilian families’ non-labor income and for 49% of the total reduction in non-labor income inequality” (COHA). While still infantile in execution, Bolsa Familia shows promise to the Brazilian people of a prosperous that can be spread to a larger amount of its people than was previously capable …show more content…
Today, the region’s level of inequality is staggering compared to the rest of the world. However, Latin America has been able to decrease its most troubling issue through economic growth along with proper government spending to support its impoverished citizens. As a result, the region’s economy expanded by 6%, the overall poverty levels returned to the pre-crisis levels with the rate dropping to 32.1% in 2010. The Gini coefficients of individual Latin American nations are comparable with America’s; Uruguay and Venezuela numbers were at .433 and .412, respectively, while the United States had .468 during the late 2000’s (Gasparini and Lustig 3). While the area is not a perfect economic utopia, Latin America is making strides in attempting to do so given the relatively short time they have implemented their policies to redress the inordinate issue of income
The Latin American economic model prevented much change in the countries that it affected. While the model allowed countries such as Argentina to succeed for a time, the long-term results are unsatisfactory. With all of these factors considered, it is not surprising that Latin America is stricken with poverty and inequality.
Brazil is an enormous and diverse country with a long and turbulent history, and an economy that reflects this. With the seventh largest GDP in the world and a population of over 200 million, no discussion of Brazil is without political or economic significance, both for its people and for the world as a whole. As such, inequalities in income (also reflected in geography, race and gender) certainly matter, and must be a key concern for those who promote the development of the country; these gaps mean that poor members of society gain nominally less from growth, although figures show relative gains , an outcome which is undesirable for various economic, social and ethical reasons. Brazil’s development gaps, including its flagrantly high income inequality, but also its deficient infrastructure, political and social problems, have deep but traceable origins in political institutions.
Belsie, Laurent. “The Causes of Rising Income Inequality.”.N.p., 5 Mar. 2009. Web. 30 Apr. 2014
Income inequality in the United States has increased and decreased throughout history, but in the recent years, the widening gap has become a serious issue. Income inequality is usually measured by Gini coefficient. According to this method coefficient varies between 0 and 100; while 0 represents complete equality (income is distributed equally among all the population of the country), 100 represents complete inequality (only one person receives all the country’s income, while the rest of the population receives nothing). According to the Census of Bureau, the official Gini coefficient in the U.S. was 46.9 in 2010. This is way higher than the all-time low coefficient of 38.6 set in 1968 (qtd. in Babones).
America 's economy is dependent on the middle class. Slowly, the middle class is beginning to decrease. Soon enough there will be only the wealthy and the poor. Economic inequality is the gap between the upper class and the lower class. It is a problem that is growing everyday. Technology, education, race, gender, and globalization are the main causes of economic inequality. Each one of these causes contributes to the vicious cycle of economic inequality. The battle for our country 's financial wellbeing is upon us.
“Capitalism is a world system. But some of its parts have more than their share of leadership.”(Cardoso xxi). Latin America, like much of the third and second world has received far lesser dividends from the fruits of capitalism. In fact due to its close geographic location to the united states and its strong early history of colonialism Latin America is a shining example of how economic dependency has evolved. From its moment liberation Latin America has been seen as a economic tool by the west, particularly by the USA, and continues to be economically dominated to this day. From the Eve of conquest the region has used its economic power mostly to the benefit of another nation.
There is an extreme social gap in Brazil between the lower and upper classes involving salaries, economic resources, access to health care, and disease rates. Many of the lower socioeconomic populations are located in the North, Northeast regions of the country where unemployment rates are high. Nearly half of the workers in the Northeastern region earn less than the minimum wage, compared to four-fifths of the Southeastern workers earning more than five times the minimum wage (Martins & Momsen n.d.). The Central Intelligence Agency estimated that 21.4% of Brazilians are below the poverty level, and 4% fall into the extreme poverty level. On a more positive note, in the past 10 years, 33 million Brazilians rose above the poverty level with
The majority of the people that are unemployed in Uruguay have the equivalent to a high school diploma, while only around 15 percent of those unemployed have college degrees (The World Bank, “Uruguay”). The estimated unemployment rate for 2014 was 6.6 percent, this is the same number that was estimated for 2013 (Cent. Intel. Agency, “Uruguay”). This is on par with the estimated unemployment rate for the United States, which was had an estimated unemployment rate of 6.2 in 2014 (Cent Intel Agency, “United States”). It is also interesting to note that while the United States and many other countries were struggling with a recession and unemployment rates that were well over 10 percent, Uruguay’s unemployment rate never went over 7.6 percent (The World Bank, “Uruguay”). In fact during 2008 and 2009 the unemployment rate dropped from previous years (The World Bank, “Uruguay”). In 2010 73.1 percent of adults in the country were employed (The World Bank, “Uruguay”). The average annual salary for residents of Uruguay is around $34,000 U.S. dollars (“Uruguay”). In 2013 the minimum wage in Uruguay was 408 U.S. dollars per month. Their minimum wage ranks among one of the lowest among the countries that enforce a minimum wage law (“Uruguay – Minimum Wages”). This low minimum wage may contribute to a higher national poverty level. In 2013 only 0.3 percent of the population was living at or below the international
When Chile became a democracy in the early 1990s, it experienced a rapid drop in poverty, which corresponded with its economic growth. However, despite continuing growth as Chile approached the turn of the century, the decline in poverty stagnated (see fig 1.) with the number of people in extreme poverty actually increasing from 5.6% to 5.7% in the years 1998-2000, highlighting that growth alone is not sufficient in reducing poverty. The imperative to look beyond economic growth for reducing poverty is reinforced by data from ECLAC, which reveals that Latin American countries with better social indicators than others had lower levels of poverty than those with the lowest social indicators. It was within this context, with the intention of addressing this issue, that Chile Solidario was created.
Inequality today is one of the most significant problems that America faces. According to Inequality.org in 2015 Household income of the top 0.1% of the population gained $6,747,439 while bottom 90% of the population got $34,074 (Inequality.org). The gap between incomes only continues to grow every year, which requires a change in social and economic policies of the country. However, it should be remembered that economic indicators can tell about working conditions, living conditions, nutrition, education of representatives of various groups of the population, but they can not show a picture of the realizability and opportunities to be successful in life for different groups of the population. That is why at the end
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 refers to the amount to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among the population. In the United States, income inequality has been growing strikingly for some thirty years. Income includes salaries, interest on a savings account, dividends from shares of stock, rent, and profits. According to the Census data, the middle
In China, the poverty line is currently set at 6.3 yuan a day, which is approximately $0.91 US dollars. In 2012, about 10.2 percent of the population made lower than the poverty line. This means about 13,974,000 people in China are in poverty. In Brazil, however, 16.2 million people live under $70 Brazilian Dollars ($20.88 US Dollars) per month, and 4.8 million of those people don’t have any flow of income at all. If global income inequality continues, I believe there will be a huge increase in poverty, immigration, and disenchantment, which could cause protests and revolts. However, it’s never too late to reverse our income disparity issue. The solutions for solving severe income inequality are simple. We need to improve education in low-income neighborhoods, raise taxes on everyone who is making a six-figure income and above while lowering taxes on those who are making less than a six-figure income. Lastly, healthcare should be provided as a civil right as well as being free to use. In conclusion, severe income inequality limits many people from getting proper education and healthcare. It’s a problem found within our community and around the world, and with proper solutions, it's a situation we won’t have to deal with in the
Marc Priester and Aaron Mendelson say that income inequality has been increasing for the last 30 years. The definition of income inequality, “…refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population” (Priester and Mendelson). In the United States, income inequality is a gap between the rich and poor (Priester and Mendelson). Income inequality has several views that include the Conservative, Liberal, and my views.
Colombia and Argentina are two similarly-sized South American states, with Colombia lying at the northern end of the continent, contrasting Argentina at the southern end. With a population of roughly 48.2 million (2013), Colombia is the larger of the two nations, comparing to Argentina’s 42.4 million (2013). However, despite this workforce advantage, Argentina outpaces Colombia economically, boasting a GDP of $437 billion annually, compared to $292 billion in Colombia. This translates to a GDP per capita of $10,301 in Argentina and $6,044 in Colombia, In other words, Colombia’s GDP per capita is roughly 60% of Argentina’s. As an effective indicator of the standard of living in a country for the average individual, a researcher can often look