Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Income Inequality in the United States Highlighted in New Reports

  • U.S. Neighborhood Income Inequality in the 2005–2009 Period, American Community Survey Reports, October 2011 – “Income inequality is one measure of societal conditions. Some have argued that large (and recently increasing) income inequality is potentially harmful to social stability—letting “the rich get richer while the poor get poorer” is thought to be bad for the United States. Others have argued that income inequality is one of the engines that drives economic growth and innovation and taxing away the incomes of those at the top end of the income distribution can stifle creativity and lower the well-being of everyone. This paper will not take a position as to the benefits or costs of income inequality, or examine the changes in inequality over time at a local level, but rather it will examine the extent to which income inequality differs spatially inside the United States, focusing on small geographic areas.”
  • Poverty: 2009 and 2010, American Community Survey Briefs, October 2011
  • NYT: Share of the Nation’s Income Earned by the Top 1 Percent – “The top 1 percent of American earners controls as much of the nation’s total income as it did on the eve of the Great Depression. Now, however, their money comes from skyrocketing paychecks more than from unearned income, as it did in 1928.”
  • VisualizingEconomics: The Top 0.01% and Top 1%’s Income Share: 2008
  • Related postings on financial system
  • 10 Cities With The Lowest Poverty Rates: U.S. Census

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.