Monthly Archives: May 2011

‘Inequities’ vs. ‘Disparities’: Why words matter

Posted on May 31, 2011 by

In a guest post, Daniel Goldberg argues in favour of ethically-charged ways of talking about inequality. The terms we use to describe inequality are important.  They’re important because there are different perspectives about (1) what terms should be used for … Continue reading →

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Who benefits from ‘economic growth?’

Posted on May 27, 2011 by

For a while now, it’s been recognised that wages for median workers in the US haven’t risen in a generation – but it was sometimes assumed that this was a phenomenon limited to the US. However, a new report released … Continue reading →

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Myths around ‘benefit dependency’

Posted on May 24, 2011 by

When Beveridge set out his plan for the British welfare state in 1942, ‘idleness’ was one of the five giants that he aimed to slay (along with want, disease, ignorance and squalor).  Somewhere since then, this has been translated into … Continue reading →

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Mapping Inequality: Policy Development From the Ground Up

Posted on May 19, 2011 by

Dominique Riviere explores the spatial dimensions of urban inequality in Toronto, Canada, and suggests some new ways of thinking about poverty This January, I participated in a meeting with a local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), in which my associates … Continue reading →

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This is Your Brain on Poverty

Posted on May 17, 2011 by

Researchers have long observed that children growing up in poverty are at greater risk for cognitive and psychological delays. These early difficulties continue to hinder normal growth throughout childhood and into adulthood, potentially leading to lower academic achievement and perpetuating … Continue reading →

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Revisiting American Inequality: Did the Poor Really Get Poorer?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by

American income inequality is commonly told as a story of divergence: since the 1970s, the share of income going to the top of income distribution has skyrocketed, while the share of income going to the bottom of the income distribution … Continue reading →

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Alcohol and the irrelevance of inequality

Posted on May 10, 2011 by

Almost every day, we’re fed another piece of inequality in the news – another example of the gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged, another case where better-off parents have secured the successes of their children over the less well-off. … Continue reading →

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Apprenticeships in a Volatile Labor Market

Posted on May 5, 2011 by

 When people talk about what it takes to succeed in the labor market today, they may talk about having the right connections or a college degree, but they rarely talk about apprenticeships. Most people in the United States (including many … Continue reading →

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The impending fall of the Western middle-class (Part II)

Posted on May 3, 2011 by

In my post last week I described the controversial new book The Global Auction, where Brown, Lauder and Ashton argue that the Western middle-class are subject to increasing competition from an army of highly-qualified workers in India, China and other … Continue reading →

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