Full Description
This book provides a one-stop resource for understanding the full dimensions of income inequality in the United States, including chief socioeconomic drivers of inequality and proposals to reduce the widening gap between rich and poor in America.
Carefully researched and scrupulously nonpartisan, this resource examines the history and current state of income inequality in the United States, with a particular focus on key issues, events, and political/economic philosophies relevant to the enduring divide between rich and poor in America. One of the most valuable aspects of the book is that it surveys the complex history of income inequality in an easy-to-understand fashion that helps readers identify and assess the ways in which income inequality shapes many aspects of modern American society. The book is even-handed in its treatment of the academic and policy debates over the causes, consequences, and appropriate response to today's growing inequality.
In addition, this resource provides insights into the financial underpinnings of debt and wealth and capitalism and how all of those factors perpetuate themselves. It also examines problems and challenges related to child care, education, transportation, housing, and saving for retirement that hamper so many poor people in their efforts to lift their households out of poverty.
Contents
Preface
1. Background and History
Introduction
Defining and Measuring Income Inequality
—Inequality of What?
—Inequality among Whom?
—Measuring Inequality
—Inequality and Poverty
—Data Sources
—Economics and Inequality
The History of Income Inequality in the United States
—1607-1790: The Young Nation and the Hope of Equality
—1790-1860: Growing Divisions
—1860-1910: Emancipation, Industrialization and the Gilded Age
—1910-1970: The Great Leveling
—1970-2020: The Return of Inequality
—2020 and Beyond: Pandemic, Racial Reckoning, and Inequality
Conclusion
References
2. Problems, Controversies, and Solutions
Why Is Some Income Inequality to Be Expected?
Inequality of Earned Income
Inequality of Unearned Income
The Equalizing Effects of Transfer Income and Taxes
Why Has the Distribution of Income Become More Unequal Over Time?
Why Is "Too Much" Inequality a Social Problem?
What Are Some Potential Solutions to Income Inequality?
Conclusion
References
3. Perspectives
Promoting Early Childhood Education to Address Inequality and Opportunity, Alison Baulos
Michael Tubbs and Universal Basic Income, Robert S. Rycroft
The Answer to America's Ineffective Welfare System? A Universal Basic Income, Leah Hamilton
An Immigrant's Story, Robert S. Rycroft
Kim Thomas and the Fight for $15, Robert S. Rycroft
Income Inequality and the Future of Democracy, Richard Lachmann
Medicare-for-All, Robert S. Rycroft
Globalization and Regional Economic Inequality in the United States, Meenakshi Rishi and Ryan Cowles
The Gig Economy, Robert S. Rycroft
Monopoly and Inequality in the United States, Steven M. Suranovic
Health in the United States: Two Different Ballgames, Erin Vernon and M. Courtney Hughes
"Ban the Box," Robert S. Rycroft
Comprehensive Paid Family Leave Will Combat Inequality, Marilyn Watkins
Brian Weber v. "Reverse Discrimination," Robert S. Rycroft
Higher Education and the Shrinking American Middle Class, Art C. Baird and Jill C. Yoshikawa
School Vouchers, Robert S. Rycroft
Arguing Over the One Percent, Robert S. Rycroft
4. Profiles
Individuals
—Claudia Goldin (1946-)
—N. Gregory Mankiw (1958-)
—Mollie Orshansky (1915-2016)
—Thomas Piketty (1971-)
—Pope Francis (1936-)
—Paul Ryan (1970-)
—Bernie Sanders (1941-)
—Elizabeth Warren (1949-)
—Andrew Yang (1975-)
Organizations
—Black Lives Matter
—Citizens for Tax Justice
—Economic Policy Institute
—Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
—Federal Reserve System
—Fight for $15
—Heritage Foundation
—Institute for Women's Policy Research
—Occupy Wall Street
—Washington Center for Equitable Growth
5. Data and Documents
Data
—Tracking Income Inequality in the United States
—Income and Wealth Inequality in the Long Run
—Poverty
—Social Mobility
—Earnings Differences by Race/Ethnicity and Gender
—Racial Wealth Gap
—Income Inequality by Gender
Documents
—Civil Rights Act of 1964
—Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
—Social Mobility and the Great Gatsby Curve
6. Resources
Books
Articles and Reports
Nonprint Sources
7. Chronology
Glossary
Index
