People are talking a ton right now about income inequality, especially because Occupy Wall Street has brought the issue to the fore.
But perhaps people aren’t talking enough about why it’s a big deal. After all, one common response people have, when presented with data about inequality is that America is an incredibly rich country (due to our capitalist system) and that even most of the “poor” are rich by historical and global standards.
And that’s no doubt true, but…
It turns out that even in a rich society, income and wealth disparity still matters.
Richard Wilkinson, Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at England’s University of Nottingham, recently did a TED Talk about what he found while researching his book about income inequality, The Spirit Level. You can check out his video here.
The basic thesis is that social ills, like crime and teen pregnancy, that have long been associated with poverty, actually have a stronger correlation with income inequality.
In other words, it doesn’t matter how big the pie gets, inequality ends up tearing away at society.
Read more: http://www.businessi…1#ixzz1dVaAdqkH
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