In most OECD countries, the gap between rich and poor is at its highest level in 30 years. Today, the richest 10 per cent of the population in the OECD area earn 9.5 times the income of the poorest 10 per cent; in the 1980s this ratio stood at 7:1 and has been rising continuously ever since. However, the rise in overall income inequality is not (only) about surging top income shares: often, incomes at the bottom grew much slower during the prosperous years and fell during downturns, putting relative (and in some countries, absolute) income poverty on the radar of policy concerns.
More from OECD
Showing posts with label inequality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inequality. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
2014′s Most & Least Fair State Tax Systems
With summer ending, the 2014 elections are starting to heat up. And as usual tax policy is a hot button issue as candidates for Governor, state legislatures and other state and local offices from both parties claim their plan is more “fair.” But what does a fair tax system look like? Which states actually have the most fair tax systems?
As a follow up to our 2014 Tax Fairness Survey which focused largely on federal tax policy, WalletHub has analyzed and ranked the 50 states based on the fairness of their state and local tax systems — including income taxes, sales & excise taxes, and property taxes. To rank the states, Wallethub conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1,050 individuals to assess what Americans think a fair state and local tax system looks like. Our analysts then compared what Americans think is fair to data on the real structure of tax systems in all 50 states.
We believe this is the first ever ranking of state and local tax fairness that matches representative data on what Americans think is fair with real data on the structure of state and local tax systems.
See more from Wallethub
As a follow up to our 2014 Tax Fairness Survey which focused largely on federal tax policy, WalletHub has analyzed and ranked the 50 states based on the fairness of their state and local tax systems — including income taxes, sales & excise taxes, and property taxes. To rank the states, Wallethub conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1,050 individuals to assess what Americans think a fair state and local tax system looks like. Our analysts then compared what Americans think is fair to data on the real structure of tax systems in all 50 states.
We believe this is the first ever ranking of state and local tax fairness that matches representative data on what Americans think is fair with real data on the structure of state and local tax systems.
See more from Wallethub
Monday, March 17, 2014
Women’s Lives and Challenges: Equality and Empowerment since 2000
From the Institute for Child, Youth, and Family Policy
Promoting gender equality and empowering women is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs explicitly recognize that gender equality and women’s empowerment are not only human rights, but also play a powerful role in promoting development and reducing poverty. When women have the same opportunities, access to resources, and life choices as men, the benefits extend far beyond women themselves. As women work to strengthen their families and communities, they foster the education and health of the next generation, hasten economic growth, and strengthen public and private institutions.
A wealth of research has documented the inequities that women face from their earliest years and in every facet of
their lives, including in education, employment, marriage, parenthood, and political participation. Women also face
unique challenges, including meeting their reproductive health needs and the threat of gender-based violence.
Overcoming these challenges and empowering women to fulfill their potential as equal members of society requires
profound changes in attitudes, roles, and behaviors inside the home, at the workplace, and in the community. This report assesses the progress made toward gender equality and women’s empowerment since the MDGs were adopted in 2000. It summarizes findings from 95 surveys conducted by MEASURE DHS in 47 countries from 2000 to 2011. While the largest group of countries comes from sub-Saharan Africa, every region of the developing world is represented.
Promoting gender equality and empowering women is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs explicitly recognize that gender equality and women’s empowerment are not only human rights, but also play a powerful role in promoting development and reducing poverty. When women have the same opportunities, access to resources, and life choices as men, the benefits extend far beyond women themselves. As women work to strengthen their families and communities, they foster the education and health of the next generation, hasten economic growth, and strengthen public and private institutions.
A wealth of research has documented the inequities that women face from their earliest years and in every facet of
their lives, including in education, employment, marriage, parenthood, and political participation. Women also face
unique challenges, including meeting their reproductive health needs and the threat of gender-based violence.
Overcoming these challenges and empowering women to fulfill their potential as equal members of society requires
profound changes in attitudes, roles, and behaviors inside the home, at the workplace, and in the community. This report assesses the progress made toward gender equality and women’s empowerment since the MDGs were adopted in 2000. It summarizes findings from 95 surveys conducted by MEASURE DHS in 47 countries from 2000 to 2011. While the largest group of countries comes from sub-Saharan Africa, every region of the developing world is represented.
Monday, March 3, 2014
IMF study finds inequality is damaging to economic growth
From The Guardian:
The International Monetary Fund has backed economists who argue that inequality is a drag on growth in a discussion paper [PDF] that has also dismissed rightwing theories that efforts to redistribute incomes are self-defeating.
The Washington-based organisation, which advises governments on sustainable growth, said countries with high levels of inequality suffered lower growth than nations that distributed incomes more evenly.
Backing analysis by the Keynesian economist and Nobel prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz, it warned that inequality can also make growth more volatile and create the unstable conditions for a sudden slowdown in GDP growth.
And in what is likely to be viewed as its most controversial conclusion, the IMF said analysis of various efforts to redistribute incomes showed they had a neutral effect on GDP growth.
The International Monetary Fund has backed economists who argue that inequality is a drag on growth in a discussion paper [PDF] that has also dismissed rightwing theories that efforts to redistribute incomes are self-defeating.
The Washington-based organisation, which advises governments on sustainable growth, said countries with high levels of inequality suffered lower growth than nations that distributed incomes more evenly.
Backing analysis by the Keynesian economist and Nobel prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz, it warned that inequality can also make growth more volatile and create the unstable conditions for a sudden slowdown in GDP growth.
And in what is likely to be viewed as its most controversial conclusion, the IMF said analysis of various efforts to redistribute incomes showed they had a neutral effect on GDP growth.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Trickle-down economics is the greatest broken promise of our lifetime
The richest 85 people in the world have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion – or half the world's entire population – put together. This is the stark headline of a http://www.oxfam.org.uk/blogs/2014/01/rigged-rules-mean-economic-growth-is-increasingly-winner-takes-all-for-rich-elites report from Oxfam ahead of the World Economic Forum at Davos...
If one subscribes to the charitable view that neoliberal philosophy was simply naive or misguided in thinking that "trickle down" would work infinitely, then evidence that it doesn't, should be cause for concern. It is a fundamental building block of supply-side economic theory – the tool of choice these past few decades for those in charge to make adjustments. The realisation that governments have been pulling at economic levers which, for some time, have been attached to nothing, should be a wake-up call to the deepest sleepers.
Even if one subscribes to the cynical view that the elite knew what they were doing all along, observing that the "rising tide" is lifting fewer and fewer boats and leaving more and more to rot in the sediment – both at a personal and national level – must make most wonder "am I in the right boat and is it big enough?" Concentration is rampant. Credit Suisse estimates that the world will have 11 trillionaires within two generations.
More from The Guardian.
If one subscribes to the charitable view that neoliberal philosophy was simply naive or misguided in thinking that "trickle down" would work infinitely, then evidence that it doesn't, should be cause for concern. It is a fundamental building block of supply-side economic theory – the tool of choice these past few decades for those in charge to make adjustments. The realisation that governments have been pulling at economic levers which, for some time, have been attached to nothing, should be a wake-up call to the deepest sleepers.
Even if one subscribes to the cynical view that the elite knew what they were doing all along, observing that the "rising tide" is lifting fewer and fewer boats and leaving more and more to rot in the sediment – both at a personal and national level – must make most wonder "am I in the right boat and is it big enough?" Concentration is rampant. Credit Suisse estimates that the world will have 11 trillionaires within two generations.
More from The Guardian.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
The 40-Year Slump
From The Prospect:
Since 1947, Americans at all points on the economic spectrum had become a little better off with each passing year. The economy’s rising tide, as President John F. Kennedy had famously said, was lifting all boats. Productivity had risen by 97 percent in the preceding quarter-century, and median wages had risen by 95 percent. As economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted in The Affluent Society, this newly middle-class nation had become more egalitarian. The poorest fifth had seen their incomes increase by 42 percent since the end of the war, while the wealthiest fifth had seen their incomes rise by just 8 percent. Economists have dubbed the period the “Great Compression.”
This egalitarianism, of course, was severely circumscribed. African Americans had only recently won civil equality, and economic equality remained a distant dream. Women entered the workforce in record numbers during the early 1970s to find a profoundly discriminatory labor market. A new generation of workers rebelled at the regimentation of factory life, staging strikes across the Midwest to slow down and humanize the assembly line. But no one could deny that Americans in 1974 lived lives of greater comfort and security than they had a quarter-century earlier. During that time, median family income more than doubled.
Then, it all stopped.
Since 1947, Americans at all points on the economic spectrum had become a little better off with each passing year. The economy’s rising tide, as President John F. Kennedy had famously said, was lifting all boats. Productivity had risen by 97 percent in the preceding quarter-century, and median wages had risen by 95 percent. As economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted in The Affluent Society, this newly middle-class nation had become more egalitarian. The poorest fifth had seen their incomes increase by 42 percent since the end of the war, while the wealthiest fifth had seen their incomes rise by just 8 percent. Economists have dubbed the period the “Great Compression.”
This egalitarianism, of course, was severely circumscribed. African Americans had only recently won civil equality, and economic equality remained a distant dream. Women entered the workforce in record numbers during the early 1970s to find a profoundly discriminatory labor market. A new generation of workers rebelled at the regimentation of factory life, staging strikes across the Midwest to slow down and humanize the assembly line. But no one could deny that Americans in 1974 lived lives of greater comfort and security than they had a quarter-century earlier. During that time, median family income more than doubled.
Then, it all stopped.
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