Income Inequality in the United States

It is important to decide the right way to manage the wealth distribution of people, as income inequality not only puts the financial risks but also affects our physical and mental health. The historical income gap in the US has been increasing or decreasing throughout the history, but in recent years the expansion of inequality has become a serious problem. Income gaps are usually measured by the Gini coefficient. In this way, the coefficient varies between 0 and 100, 0 represents perfect equality (income is evenly distributed among all the population of the country), 100 represents complete inequality

Income disparities in the United States are considerably higher than in Europe. The Scandinavian countries have the lowest level of inequality among the European countries. When the income data of each country is adjusted to be comparable, the average income of American households is generally higher than that of Europeans, but the income of American poor is lower than the income of European poor . Two main reasons are presented to explain why the United States inequality is very high compared to other countries. First, weak institutions in the United States provide income support to children and elderly families. Secondly, labor unions are weak in the US, Europe is relatively strong, and labor unions play an important role in raising wages for low-wage workers.

Income disparities in the United States are expanding since wealthy people continue to have more wealth and income since 1970. For example, 95% of the revenue growth rate from 2009 to 2013 has reached the top 1% of the US working class. Progressive recognizes that low union rates, weak policies, globalization, and other drivers bring income disparities. Expansion of income disparity is encouraging progressive people to draft legislation, including but not limited to reform of Wall Street, reform of tax laws, reform of campaign funds, closing loopholes, and maintaining housework.

Piketty and Saez discovered that income disparity in the United States has become a sustained problem since the government policy of the tax reform bill in 1986 was enacted in the 1980s. Every state rewards the top 10%, which accounts for the majority of the gross national income, but the income inequality rate varies from state to state. Among the award-winning book "The face of inequality", the hero requests "to focus on the" overall picture "of the state's politics, with greater academic attention as the core of the" overall picture " There is a need. In particular, we will determine whether influential social capitalism can be applied to the national income disparity survey, and the factors determining the national income disparity.

Given the current economic trend and increased income disparity in the United States, it is becoming increasingly important to examine the relationship between income and health. Gini coefficient - widely accepted indicator of income disparity - has increased almost every year since the 1970s. In 1978, the income share of the top 10% of the income earners was 33%, which was 50% in 2014. Since 1980, the percentage of the top 1% of income has increased from 8% to 19%, and now, up to 0.1% of income accounts for 10% of total income. Income of high-income earners has been growing rapidly in recent decades, but wages of many Americans are stagnating or falling. Income disparity has become larger than any time since the Great Depression.