October, 2009

October 2009: Best of the Blogs

Here’s a roundup of some notable blog posts in response to this month’s issue. Each post is longer than what I’ve quoted here — which tries only to give you an idea of where the author is headed. All are worth reading. Rortybomb writes: What good is money for? Well, in a liberal society, it’s [...]

Read: October 2009: Best of the Blogs

How Does Inequality Matter?

by Elizabeth Anderson
The Conversation
October 30th, 2009

There are many ways to measure economic inequality — for example, in terms of income, wealth, or consumption, either pre- or post- tax-and-transfer, or with reference to the use of material resources that are not personally owned, such as access to public goods provided by local governments, and command over the economic resources of corporations. [...]

Read: How Does Inequality Matter?

Why Oppose an Increase in Redistribution?

by Lane Kenworthy
The Conversation
October 30th, 2009

Will Wilkinson and John Nye, in their contributions to this exchange, have expressed explicit or implicit support for government action to reduce discrimination, enhance access to good schooling and health care, improve opportunity for employment, and boost the living standards of the poor. Good! What both Will and John oppose is an increase in government [...]

Read: Why Oppose an Increase in Redistribution?

More Problems with Measured Inequality

by John V. C. Nye
The Conversation
October 29th, 2009

I am grateful that Lane Kenworthy has addressed the issues I brought up in my original post because I think they are quite different than the normal discussions of inequality.  He concedes my points, but doesn’t think they are relevant to the last century or at least the last thirty years. But if he starts [...]

Read: More Problems with Measured Inequality

Real and Perceived Inequality

by Lane Kenworthy
The Conversation
October 29th, 2009

John Nye suggests that innovation and productivity improvements tend, paradoxically, to reduce the actual degree of material inequality but to increase perceived material inequality. Goods such as food, clothing, housing, cars, televisions, and many others come to be produced ever less expensively. As this happens, more people can afford to purchase them. This reduces material [...]

Read: Real and Perceived Inequality

Brief correction on income inequality data

by Lane Kenworthy
The Conversation
October 28th, 2009

John Nye says measured income inequality would not be reduced by the types of redistributive policies that I (and Elizabeth Anderson) have been discussing. He seems to think neither government transfers nor taxes are included in the data used to measure inequality. It’s true that the Gini coefficients published by the Census Bureau in its [...]

Read: Brief correction on income inequality data

Inequality and Democracy

by Will Wilkinson
The Conversation
October 28th, 2009

I heartily agree with Elizabeth Anderson that a good deal of the United States’ legal and regulatory regime has been rigged to lock in the advantages of well-financed corporate and other interests. However, it’s not clear that this is any worse in the United States than in many European countries with significantly lower levels of [...]

Read: Inequality and Democracy

One More Round on Conspicuous Consumption

by Elizabeth Anderson
The Conversation
October 28th, 2009

Wilkinson’s latest post argues that the poor who squander their resources on competition over appearances should take more personal responsibility for their spending decisions. In response, I’d like to point out that there is a difference between a policy perspective and a perspective of individual choice. I thought we were talking policy here, and not [...]

Read: One More Round on Conspicuous Consumption