Marian Tupy: Income Equality Is No Measure of Human Progress

Following the Great Recession of 2008, income inequality became a focal concern of those who feel that market economy has let them down. In 2011, “We are the 99 percent” became a unifying slogan of the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2013, the U.S. President Barack Obama described income inequality as the “defining challenge of our time.”

Concern over income inequality did not disappear.

A year later, Pope Francis called for a “legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state,” while leftwing economist Thomas Piketty tried to supply the movement for greater income equality with intellectual ammunition in his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. 

Richard Epstein: When Women Earn Less Than Men

This past week, the Trump administration rolled back an order that the Obama White House put into place to collect information about various disparities in labor markets. 

Last year, the Obama administration issued a “Fact Sheet” grandly titled “New Steps to Advance Equal Pay,” which contained a proposal “to annually collect summary pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity from businesses with 100 or more employees.” In total, the proposal would cover some 63 million people. The purpose of collecting the data was to provide “better insight into discriminatory pay practices across industries and occupations,” which would in turn give “women additional tools to fight pay discrimination.”

Richard Epstein: The Hidden Virtues Of Income Inequality

There is little doubt that income inequality is one of the great issues of our time. A new front has opened in the battle over whether the richer and the poorer should have differential access to various forms of common facilities.

The New York Times recently ran a front-page exposé of segregation by wealth in the booming cruise business. The article, by Nelson Schwartz, was entitled “In an Age of Privilege, Not Everyone Is in the Same Boat.” 

Richard Epstein from the US: The "Income Inequality" Warriors

The critical political struggle of the 2016 presidential election may well be the redistribution of wealth. How that issue plays out is likely to depend on whether it is cast in terms of economic growth or income inequality. 

If the Republicans successfully push the growth agenda, then the Democrats will be on the defensive. If the Democrats drive home the theme of income inequality, then the Republicans will squirm. This is a contest that the Republicans should win if they play their cards correctly.

Matt Ridley from the UK: Income inequality is falling, globally

There was a row last week between the “rock star economist” Thomas Piketty and Chris Giles of the Financial Times over statistics on inequalities in wealth — in this country in particular. When the dust settled, the upshot seemed to be that in Britain wealth inequality probably did inch up between 1980 and 2010, but not by as much as Piketty had claimed, though it depends on which data sets you trust.

Well, knock me down with a feather. You mean to say that during three decades when the government encouraged asset bubbles in house prices; gave tax breaks to pensions; lightly taxed wealthy non-doms; poured money into farm subsidies; and severely restricted the supply of land for housing, pushing up the premium earned by planning permission for development, the wealthy owners of capital saw their relative wealth increase slightly? Well, I’ll be damned.

Karl du Fresne: Piketty - new poster boy for the Left

Hands up all those who have read French economist Thomas Piketty’s best-selling book Capital in the Twenty-First Century. As I thought – not many of you. Perhaps you were put off by the fact that it runs to a dense 685 pages. I admit I haven’t tackled it either, but I’ve read enough reviews to have a pretty clear idea what the book is all about.

The English translation was published only two months ago but already it has made Piketty the international poster boy for the Left. He contends that unequal distribution of wealth – a current political preoccupation throughout the Western world – is the inevitable result of a system which, over time, concentrates economic power in the hands of a tiny few.

Lindsay Mitchell: Asian incomes rising rapidly

Prompted by the NZ Herald sob-series on Closing the Gaps I thought I'd take a look at Asian incomes. They are rising rapidly. In only 5 years they have gone from having the lowest median income to second highest.

The chart below shows the median income for individuals aged 15 and older.

Steve Baron: New Zealand's Titanic Problem

Imagine for a moment you’re in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Titanic. You’re in the ballroom having the time of your life rubbing shoulders with other wealthy individuals—the few who could afford such an expensive first class berth on one of the most expensive ships of its day. 

Suddenly the ship lurches and you wonder what the hell happened. Then you bump into Professors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (authors of The Spirit Level). They’ve just come up from below deck and tell you there’s a massive rip along the side of the ship and it’s taking on water fast. The Captain then makes an announcement over the ships intercom; “Don’t worry, we’re just taking on a little bit of water but the pumps are working well. By the way, we’ve rearranged the deck chairs and the band will play its latest hit song, so you can all sit back and relax without a care in the world”.

Lindsay Mitchell: In anticipation of Cunliffe's speech

Tomorrow David Cunliffe will bombard us with statistics about growing inequality. That can be measured in various ways - household income, individual income or wealth.

The best source of data is the Household Income Survey. Just to provide an alternate view, I've pulled out some of the graphs that show a rosier picture than the one Cunliffe is going to paint.

Richard Epstein: In Praise of Income Inequality

You cannot make the poor richer by making the rich poorer.

One month into the second term of the Obama administration, the economic prognosis looks mixed at best. On growth, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports the last quarter of 2012 produced a small decline in gross domestic product, without any prospects for a quick reversal. On income inequality, the most recent statistics (which only go through 2011) focus on the top 1 percent.

Steve Baron: Income inequality & child poverty

I’ll be blunt and say straight up front, I’m a dirty, stinking, money loving capitalist. I’ve speculated in real estate, the stock market, even foreign currency and I've been lucky enough to do very well from it too. However, I’m also a capitalist that has a social conscience. I believe in justice, fairness and equal opportunity. That is why income inequality and child poverty concern me greatly.

I started hearing about income inequality a few years ago in the main stream media, after a book called 'The Spirit Level' was published. It was mainly left wing commentators that were banging on about it and my first thoughts were… "here we go again, rob from the rich to give to the poor, bloody socialists".

Steve Baron: NZ not confronting the Important Issues

Just as inflation was the scourge of the 70's and 80's, income inequality (the gap between
the rich and the poor) has become the scourge of today. A famous Kiwi once said that New
Zealanders would not understand a fiscal deficit if they tripped over it in the street and perhaps they do not understand much about income inequality either, or how it effects them—but they should. It is an issue that past and present governments have been ignoring—probably because they are not sure how to fix the problem.

'Income inequality' are two words that quickly spurt with enthusiasm from the mouth of most devout socialists. Even though I consider myself a capitalist (with a social conscience), these two words have been concerning me also.