Economic Inequality: America's Sixty Families, Cake Theory, Convergence Clubs, Gender Pay Gap, Gender Pay Gap in Australia, Gini Coefficien

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 94. Chapters: America's Sixty Families, Cake theory, Convergence clubs, Gender pay gap, Gender pay gap in Australia, Gini coefficient, Great Compression, Great Divergence (inequality), Great Gatsby Curve, Housing inequality, Housing quality and health outcomes in the United States, Income inequality in Brazil, Income inequality in the Philippines, Income inequality in the United States, Income inequality metrics, International inequality, List of countries by distribution of wealth, Poplar Rates Rebellion, Racial inequality in the United States, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, Serrano v. Priest, Social determinants of health in poverty, Status-income disequilibrium, Tax policy and economic inequality in the United States, The Power Elite, The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, Wealth concentration, Wealth inequality in the United States, Widening income gap in India, World distribution of wealth. Excerpt: Distribution of income in the United States has been the subject of study by scholars and institutions. Data from a number of sources indicate that income inequality has grown significantly since the early 1970s, after several decades of stability. While inequality has risen among most developed countries, and especially English-speaking ones, it is highest in the United States. Studies indicate the source of the widening gap (sometimes called the Great Divergence) has not been gender inequality, which has declined in the US over the last several decades, nor inequality between black and white Americans, which has stagnated during that time, nor has the gap between the poor and middle class been the major cause-though it has grown. Most of the growth has been between the middle class and top earners, with the disparity becoming more extreme the further one goes up in the income distribution. A 2011 study by the CBO found that the top earning 1 percent of households gained about 275% after federal taxes and income transfers over a period between 1979 and 2007, compared to a gain of just under 40% for the 60 percent in the middle of America's income distribution. Other sources find that the trend has continued since then. However, only 42% of Americans think inequality has increased in the past ten years. Income inequality is not uniform among the states; as measured by the Gini coefficient: after tax income inequality in 2009 was greatest in Texas and lowest in Maine. Scholars and others differ as to the causes, solutions, and the significance of the trend, which in 2011 helped ignite the "Occupy" protest movement. Education and increased demand for skilled labor are often cited as causes, some have emphasized the importance of public policy; others believe the cause(s) of inequality's rise are not well understood. Inequality has been described both as irrelevant in the face of economic opportunity (or social mobility) in America, and as a cause of the decline in tha