If there's something that progressives agree on, it's that inequality exists and that it's a problem. But what do we mean when we say "inequality"? Is it that some people have more "stuff" (money, goods, access to services) than others? Is it that some people are more skilled, more talented, better looking, or just plain luckier than others? In a relatively free society with fairly consistent equality of opportunity, the result is inevitably going to be inequality of outcome. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. Why is a certain amount of inequality a good thing? Should we care about numerical inequality indicators such as the GINNI index? Should we take legislative action to "level the playing field"? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers.
Subscribe to the Words and Numbers podcast via iTunes.
Quick Hits
France bans throwing away unsold clothing
France bans throwing away unsold food
Foolishness of the Week
Hillary Clinton wants to be Facebook’s CEO
Topic of the Week: Inequality
Equality in the consumption of goods and services (1)
Equality in the consumption of goods and services (2)
Taxes and transfers reduce income inequality by 25%
All the quintiles are getting richer
Much of the inequality we observe is due to differences in ages (Table H-10)
Income mobility across generations
Follow James and Antony on Twitter.
Join the Words and Numbers Backstage FB group, where the conversation continues.
Antony Davies
Dr. Antony Davies is an Associate professor of Economics at Duquesne University, and co-host of the podcast, Words & Numbers.
James R. Harrigan
James R. Harrigan is a Senior Editor at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also co-host of the Words & Numbers podcast.