Tag: Wealth Inequality

[kristopher]

From Dan Ariely's blog:

Wealth Inequality in Motion.

I recently came across this video that some talented person made of a study I conducted on wealth inequality a few years back with Mike Norton. It does a great job covering the main findings regarding the differences between what Americans think the distribution of wealth is (somewhat even), what they would prefer (more even than socialist Sweden), and how wealth is actually distributed (the bottom 40% of Americans possessing less than 0.3% of total wealth, the top 20% possessing 84%). The graphs, and a longer explanation, are also available here.

The only thing I wish he emphasized a little more is how similar the results were for Democrats and Republicans, which I found very hopeful. Even with all the ideological polarization in Washington, the moment we ask the question of ideal wealth distribution in a general and less self-interested way, we seem to be a country that cares a lot about each other.

http://danariely.com/tag/wealth-inequality/

ARTICLE | PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE | JANUARY 2011
Building a Better America—One Wealth Quintile at a Time

by Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

Abstract

Disagreements about the optimal level of wealth inequality underlie policy debates ranging from taxation to welfare. We attempt to insert the desires of "regular" Americans into these debates, by asking a nationally representative online panel to estimate the current distribution of wealth in the United States and to "build a better America" by constructing distributions with their ideal level of inequality. First, respondents dramatically underestimated the current level of wealth inequality. Second, respondents constructed ideal wealth distributions that were far more equitable than even their erroneously low estimates of the actual distribution. Most important from a policy perspective, we observed a surprising level of consensus: All demographic groups—even those not usually associated with wealth redistribution such as Republicans and the wealthy—desired a more equal distribution of wealth than the status quo.

Go to this link to download the original paper:
http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=38500

[ladjf]

1. Brilliant as usual. nt

I hope that you won't mind if I added an extension to the problem of Wealth Inequality.

Wealth inequality is a symptom of "Unbridled Capitalism" , the number one problem facing all life on Earth. If Capitalism isn't brought under control and soon, almost all life forms and most natural resources will cease to existent.

To simply the seriousness: either stop the Unbridled Capitalism or die. This is not an opinion, it is a fact based on solid scientific investigation.

[riderinthestorm]

2. BIG K&R!! nt

[pdsimdars]

3. Clearly illustrating what Bernie has been saying and ALSO

the reason why some of us have criticized the past 2 Democratic Presidents, Clinton and Obama. Remember, 16 of those last 30 years were DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTS. They certainly didn't "raise all boats".
BECAUSE, it was Clinton who was the first Democrat who decided that the Democrats should also get some corporate/Wall Street money. And look at the effects. People always say Clinton did such a great job with the economy, but THIS is the outcome.