Inequalities

Tag: fairness

  • The perception of inequality of opportunity – and the reality

    In a guest post, Paolo Brunori – an Assistant Professor at the University of Bari, and blogger at Lavoce – summarises his new paper on the perception of inequality of opportunity in Europe, recently published in the Review of Income and Wealth. When thousands of Egyptians gathered to protest in Tahrir Square in January 2011, many…

  • An instinct for fairness?

    An instinct for fairness?

    I’m just now getting around to reading Joseph Stiglitz’s book from last year The Price of Inequality. There’s lots of interesting stuff in there, some of which I may end up talking about here on the blog. But as I was reading the other day, there was one particular section that struck me. He’s talking about…

  • Learning About Inequality Increases Concern, But Not Necessarily Support for Redistribution

    A puzzle: income inequality between the top 1% and the rest has surged in the last few years, yet support for redistribution among the general public has actually declined (see figure below). Do people not care about inequality, or do they not know the facts? To test this hypothesis, Ilyana Kuziemko recently conducted an online…

  • A More Perfect Union: What do New Yorkers owe Texans?

    In the United States, the federal government and the fifty states split the check for many social assistance programs. Within this partnership, considerable discretion is given to each state in defining eligibility for cash welfare, public health insurance, workforce development, and other programs. This leads to huge variation in benefits across states. On a per…

  • Harshness or stability in attitudes to redistribution?

    In the previous post from Charlotte Cavaille based on the Attitudes to Wealth and Economic Inequality in the UK event run by Cumberland Lodge, she examined how the “middle” had faired during a time of continuous increase in the income gap between the bottom and the top. In this post, she shows how common understandings that ‘attitudes to redistribution have…

  • The ‘nothing for something’ benefits system

    Some phrases just stick.  While British politicians often bemoan the ‘something for nothing’ culture in the benefits system, somehow the other side of this has been missed.  Yet there are people who contribute to the welfare state for decades, and then receive very little in return when they need it.  This is what Kate Bell…

  • The hidden costs of disability

    How much does a disability cost you? Let’s take the example that (slightly too easily) comes to mind for most people: a disability that means you need a wheelchair to get around – how much of a dent in your wallet is this, compared to an identical life without any mobility limitations? There’s the obvious…

  • Is Economic Fairness a Winning Message in 2012?

    In the 2012 reelection campaign, President Obama is defining himself in terms of economic fairness. The word “fair” was used nine times in the State of the Union Address, and symbols of economic inequality were on full display (including Warren Buffett’s secretary, an invited guest). Is the public receptive to the inequality message? A recent…

  • Straight Talk on Economic Mobility

    Americans may be skeptical of some large welfare state programs, but a widely shared conviction is that children that are born to poor parents should have the chance to move upward. That’s why it was good to hear President Obama finally talking passionately about economic mobility in his Tuesday speech on income inequality in Osawatomie,…

  • The deservingness of benefit claimants (I)

    This is the first of three linked posts on the ‘deservingness of benefit claimants’. In this post, I explain the title, speak about the BBC programme that prompted the posts, and suggest why the British public massively overestimate the levels of benefit fraud. A few weeks ago, the BBC broadcast a documentary about the British…