The Merits Of Income Inequality: What’s The Right Amount?
Inequality in the U.S. has risen to levels not seen since the 1920s. The top 1 percent pocket more than 20 percent of the nation’s income, and the 400 richest people in the country own more wealth than everyone in the bottom 50 percent.
War On Poverty, 50 Years Later
The Changing Picture Of Poverty: Hard Work Is ‘Just Not Enough’
That’s not healthy for the society or the economy, says Branko Milanovic, an economists at the City University of New York Graduate Center. For one thing, he says, it undermines the idea of equal opportunity.
“It makes some people excluded or poor and unable to actually, for example, go to school, complete studies and contribute to society,” he says.
That hurts individuals and, Milanovic says, it hurts the broader economy by not allowing a whole segment of society to be as productive as it could be.
More: The Merits of Income Inequality: What’s the Right Amount? : NPR