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Macro- & micro-economic analysis
Compare and contrast macroeconomics and microeconomics
The relationship between income inequality and poverty
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Recommended: Macro- & micro-economic analysis
Income inequality in Taiwan Why do I think it is a microeconomics issue? Microeconomics is the study that focuses on understanding how consumers and producers make choices and how they interact in a particular market (Mankiw & Taylor, 2014). Income inequality refers to the differences in income between individuals or households, or between different groups, areas, or nations. It is a term used to describe an uneven distribution of household or individual income in an economy (Black, Hashimzade & Myles, 2013). There is no strict restriction on defining whether income inequality is a microeconomics or a macroeconomics issue, because different situations will need to use different measurements and data sources, which will lead us to different …show more content…
I have also read some articles discussing the negative effects of income inequality: in 2000 Mo claimed "income inequality penetrate into every aspect of an economy which significantly reduce the efficiency and hence the rate productivity growth", in 2010 Verme learned that income inequality could have negative, and significant effect on life satisfaction. As a Taiwanese national, I want to explore further this issue associated with Taiwan. This assignment focuses on studying the microeconomics aspect of income inequality in Taiwan, which is defined as the gap that exists between the rich and the …show more content…
Since 1980 Taiwan’s economy has been heavily relying upon an open economic system with the view of promoting foreign trade to lead to economic development. Policymakers in Taiwan emphasise a "liberalisation and internationalisation" policy to stabilise the economy. For the purpose of reducing government control and regulation in economic spheres as well as opening up the Taiwanese market to foreign businesses without unnecessary limitations to allow foreign products to compete with local products in the domestic market (Liou,
Wealth inequality and income inequality are often mistaken as the same thing. Income inequality is the difference of yearly salary throughout the population.1 Wealth inequality is the difference of all assets within a population.2 The United States has a high degree of wealth distribution between rich and poor than any other majorly developed nation.3
Nevertheless, as income inequality as well as gender inequality are the two outstanding types of inequality equippe...
The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.
Wealth inequality is a real issue that needs to be fixed. The imbalanced growth of the upper class compared to the middle class is a danger to American society as a whole. The rich becoming richer while the middle class remains the same leads to a power imbalance, with the rich using their money to run the country the way they see fit while the middle class speaks to ears that do not listen. The issue of wealth inequality needs to be fixed by raising taxes on the rich.
Income inequality not only harms us fiscally, but also affects our mental and physical wellbeing; therefore, it is important to identify the right ways to control wealth distribution among people.
3. What are the effects of this wealth inequality in the US and what causes it, as well as some possible solutions and their ramifications, will all be discussed and answered below. There has always been a wealth gap between the richest and poorest in society. However, in the past decade, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest citizens in the US has been growing rapidly. In the 70s and 80s, the wealth and income growth rate for both poor and rich people were similar, however, between the years 2009 and 2012 the top 1% income increased 31% while for the bottom 20%, their income actually dropped and for the vast majority of Americans, the average yearly income only increased by 0.4% [4].
Inequality as previously mentioned is a subject that gets debated when brought up and in any debate there is two sides. In class we have discussed both side of the story of inequality, and it has give me a better perspectives of income inequality. When discussion income inequality, we brought up the concept of the economic pie in which states that the economic pie is a reference to the way income gets distributed among the lower, middle, and higher class of America. So the concept of the economic pie states that the rich is getting richer, so they are
...ment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. Although it may not seem fair that there are rich people blowing money on impractical and meaningless things while people live in poverty, it’s a reality that the United States has experienced for centuries.
There is also the damage that the inequality does to the society and the government. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.” Today that would mean that the middle class is the most important part of our society, however, the farther we move into the future the weaker the middle class becomes (Krugman, 587). The America that we live in is unequal in income and social aspects. The rich do not live the same lives as those that are less fortunate, and the less fortunate do not get to enjoy the perks that come with the lives of the rich people.
America 's economy is dependent on the middle class. Slowly, the middle class is beginning to decrease. Soon enough there will be only the wealthy and the poor. Economic inequality is the gap between the upper class and the lower class. It is a problem that is growing everyday. Technology, education, race, gender, and globalization are the main causes of economic inequality. Each one of these causes contributes to the vicious cycle of economic inequality. The battle for our country 's financial wellbeing is upon us.
Yao, S., Zhang, Z., and Hanmer, L., (2004) ‘Growing inequality and poverty in China’ China Economic Review 15:145-163.
The line was extremely long and people would be camped outside just so they could see a doctor. Many people who were there had serious injuries and sicknesses and hadn’t seen a doctor or dentist in a very long time. One gentleman in particular was so sick that the doctors strongly suggested he go to the emergency room, that his sickness could be fatal. However, in the end, the gentlemen refused to go to the emergency because the medical bill would be extremely high. Income inequality is a social problem because a lot of people in society are affected in a negative way because of it.
Income inequality is a big problem in the United States because the top, wealthiest American saw huge increases in their incomes, which the rest had their incomes go down. Bottom people do not have the same amount of money and the opportunity to move up the social ladder as the rich people do. In order to reduce income inequality, the government needs to tax the rich people more, and give poor people more money and more social services - education, food subsidies, health care.
During the twentieth century, the world began to develop the idea of economic trade. Beginning in the 1960’s, the four Asian Tigers, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, demonstrated that a global economy, which was fueled by an import and export system with other countries, allowed the economy of the home country itself to flourish. Th...
Inequality refers to the differences in living conditions in a society; it could also be defined as an unequal distribution of a country’s resources across its population. Inequality is obviously an important issue, since higher levels of inequality will usually translate into higher levels of poverty, crime and social unrest. However, it is often ignored by society. This is because people have many misconceptions about inequality and it’s origins. Some argue that there is an equality of opportunity and that it’s people’s fault if they earn less than they should. However this is a myth, since most hard working low-income students rarely attend college and when they do, they usually attend public universities. Which leaves them at a great disadvantage, so the idea that poor people are poor because they ‘haven’t worked as hard’ or because they are ‘lazy’ is a very ignorant one, which people choose to believe in order to justify inequality.