Category Archives: income distribution

Economic Growth and Economic Justice II. What Needs to Happen

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In today’s fractious political climate, it is at least widely recognized that skilled blue-collar workers are often suffering from stagnant income growth and/or job loss. Unfortunately, the political parties often disagree on how to address this major problem.  There are several different perspectives from which to view the overall situation:

  • Slow economic growth, averaging only 2% per year since the end of the Great Recession in June 2009. From 1950 – 2000 the economy grew at over 3% per year and produced a prosperous American middle class. Now, with strong headwinds from globalization and constantly improving technology, we badly need faster overall economic growth to provide more and better paying middle class jobs.
  • Income inequality. There is increasing income inequality in the U.S. even though the top 25% or so are doing very well. But raising taxes on the wealthy could slow down economic growth by discouraging new investment. In addition, redistribution of tax revenue to lower income Americans will not give them much of a boost.

  • Income insecurity. This is a huge problem for the many blue-collar workers who are struggling to make ends meet. There are a number of specific government actions which could alleviate this enormous societal problem.
  • Economic justice. Poverty in the U.S. is widely distributed geographically, with almost as much in rural and small town areas as in big cities. This could provide an opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to work together to address a very challenging problem.

Conclusion. Our country has very serious economic and fiscal problems which are not being addressed because of severe partisan infighting in Congress. But slow economic growth, income insecurity and poverty affect a wide variety of people with different political outlooks.  It’s inexcusable to allow partisan bickering to get in the way of finding workable solutions.

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The U.S. Middle Class Is Growing, Not Shrinking

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One of the topics I discuss on this blog is income inequality (here, here, and here).  An interesting article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, “Upper Middle Class Sees Big Gains, Research Finds,” is highly pertinent to the inequality issue.
Capture1As can be seen in the above chart, the percentage of people in the middle class or above has greatly expanded between 1979 and 2014.  Furthermore, the basic research on this issue,by Stephen Rose at the Urban Institute, shows very clearly (in the chart below) what is happening: the higher is a family income, the faster it is increasing.
Capture3The best policy response to this phenomenon should be clear.  Rather than trying to decrease inequality with higher taxes on the wealthy, we should be trying to boost the less wealthy into higher income classes. The way to accomplish this is to:

  • Grow the economy faster with broad-based tax reform (lower tax rates paid for by shrinking deductions), immigration (guest worker) reform, (fair) trade expansion, and regulation reform (to help more small businesses get started). This will create more jobs and better paying jobs.
  • Improve education with early childhood education (to get minorities off to a better start in school), boosting high school graduation rates above the current 80% average (with better career and vocational education) and making college more affordable by putting more resources into community colleges and scholarships for low-income students.
  • Combat social inequality. The fraction of children with a single parent is the best predictor of upward economic mobility. The lower-income class marriage rate has dropped from 84% in 1960 to 48% in 2010. Policy should therefore focus on removing the marriage penalty in all government programs.

The basic forces of globalization and growing technology use are driving this societal change. The best way to respond is to enable more people to benefit from these basic trends.

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Life in America: Opportunity or Inequality?

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How bad is income inequality in the U.S. and what should be done about it?  This is a question of great current interest with many different points of view.  The chart just below from the Congressional Budget Office shows the extent of income inequality and also shows that it has gotten somewhat worse between 1979 and 2007, just before the onset of the Great Recession.  And we know that our stagnant economy has made it worse yet between 2007 and the present.
CaptureBut now look at the chart (below) from the U.S. Census Bureau of the distribution of household income in the U.S. in 2012.  The chart shows the median income of about $51,000 and then has a very long tail to the right.  This means that there are large numbers of households making large incomes of all different sizes.  It makes no particular sense to distinguish the top 1% (who make $380,000 or more) from the bottom 99%.
Capture1The point is that there is huge opportunity in the U.S. to do very well financially whether or not one makes it into the top 1%.
In an earlier post, “Growth vs Equitable Growth,” I reported on the agenda of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a progressive think tank.  In order to achieve “equitable growth” they advocate:

  • Improving educational outcomes at all levels, pre-K – 12+.
  • Running a “high pressure” economy in order to tighten the labor market.
  • Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit especially for workers without children.

I couldn’t agree more.  This is an excellent plan to create more prosperity for more people.  It’s much more plausible in the U.S. to make poor people richer than to make rich people poorer.