Global and domestic income inequality.

in income •  2 years ago 

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The US has seen a rising Gini index since the 80s.

Market income is income before taxes and transfers. Disposable income is after taxes and transfers.

We've seen a rising share of income for the top 1% in the US.

This chart also did it by equivalence-adjusted household income, which means it adjusts for multi-person households (i.e. a single person household with $50k income has a higher equivalent income compared to a household with kids).

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A bit different story than the global chart. The global chart was mainly about the lowest income countries having economic growth in the last 50 years, bringing billions out of poverty.

Remarkable decline in global income inequality

The within country inequality charts on the other hand are in some cases about rising income inequalities.

The increase in the US share to the top 1%, 9% of total income since the 80's, is equivalent to everybody in the bottom 80% getting a raise of around 16%. And that's before looking at the capital gains side of the picture, which puts it closer to 25%.

Imagine the change if the median household income in the US was increased by $10k/year, or $15k. That's the world we'd be in if the shares had just kept their 1980 ratios.

It's possible to have rising inequality in every country AND decreasing inequality globally at the same time. An example of this would be China, which has had declining inequality for the last two decades.

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