Property, Authority, and Income Distribution in America, 1983-2010

From the University of Michigan Population Studies:

Income inequality has increased tremendously since the 1980s, but why?

Income Inequality and Economic Mobility

by Steven Aftergood

Income inequality in the United States is more pronounced than in other developed countries, a new report from the Congressional Research Service finds, while the possibility of economic mobility is more constrained than commonly believed.

“Based on the limited data that are comparable across nations, the U.S. income distribution appears to be among the most uneven of all major industrialized countries and the United States appears to be among the nations experiencing the greatest increases in measures of inequality.”

“Americans may be less concerned about inequality in the distribution of income at any given point in time partly because of a belief that everyone has an equal opportunity to move up the income ladder. A review of the literature suggests that Americans’ perceptions about their likelihood of changing position in the income distribution may be exaggerated,” the CRS report said.

More here

U.S. finally enters top gender equality ranking

The United States rocketed from 31st place to 19th this year in a report that ranks gender equality the world over. This is the first time the U.S. has entered the Global Gender Gap Report's top 20, and this sudden progress mainly comes from economic participation and political empowerment (although, the empty bar graph for "Years with female head of state" is rather depressing). In terms of economic participation and opportunity, we rank sixth in the world. The two other areas considered by the report: educational attainment and health.

The real stars of the report, however, are the four Nordic countries dominating the list: Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

More HERE.
Global Gender Gap Report 2010 - Saadia Zahidi video (2:29).