distribution of wealth

Examples of distribution of wealth in the following topics:

• Distribution of Wealth and Income

  • The distribution of wealth and income reveals inequalities among and within countries and the ways in which wealth is redistributed.
  • The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society.
  • There are many ways in which the distribution of wealth can be analyzed.
  • As with general wealth distribution, land is also distributed unequally.
  • Various forms of socialism, an economic system in which the state exerts significant control over wealth distribution, attempt to diminish the unequal distribution of wealth and the conflicts that arise from it.

• Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor

  • Economic inequality (also known as the gap between rich and poor) consists of disparities in the distribution of wealth and income.
  • Thus, national prosperity does not always correspond to individual prosperity, due to inequality in the internal distribution of wealth.
  • Economic inequality (also known as the gap between rich and poor, income inequality, wealth disparity, or wealth and income differences) consists of disparities in the distribution of wealth (accumulated assets) and income.
  • The Gini coefficient is a statistical measure of the dispersal of wealth or income.
  • A Gini coefficient of one indicates that all of a group's wealth is held by one individual.

• Power and Inequality

  • by William Domhoff, the distribution of wealth in America is the primary highlight of the influence of the upper class.
  • The top 1 percent of Americans own around 34 percent of the wealth in the U.S. while the bottom 80 percent own only approximately 16 percent of the wealth.
  • This large disparity displays the unequal distribution of wealth in America in absolute terms.
  • Given that power is not innate and can be granted to others, to acquire power you must possess or control a form of power currency (such as wealth, social status, authority, etc.).
  • The upper class is generally contained within the wealthiest 1–2 percent of the population, with wealth passed from generation to generation.

• Socialism

  • Social ownership of the means of production can take many forms.
  • In a planned economy, the means of production are publicly owned and the government is in charge of coordinating and distributing production.
  • Socialists critique capitalism, arguing that it derives wealth from a system of labor exploitation and then concentrates wealth and power within a small segment of society that controls the means of production.
  • Socialists argue that socialism would allow for wealth to be distributed based on how much one contributes to society, as opposed to how much capital one owns.
  • A primary goal of socialism is social equality and a distribution of wealth based on one's contribution to society, and an economic arrangement that would serve the interests of society as a whole.

• Income Distribution

  • Occupy Wall Street's mantra, "We are the 99%" points to what protesters see as starkly unequal distribution of income and wealth between the top 1% of earners and the rest of the population.
  • While most social scientists see multiple tiers of income distribution within the bottom 99% of earners, the top 1% does hold a disproportionately high percentage of assets.
  • Still, much of the richest Americans' accumulated wealth is in the form of stocks and real estate.
  • This graph illustrates the unequal distribution of income between groups with different levels of educational attainment.
  • Education is an indicator of class position, meaning that unequal distribution of income by education points to inequality between the classes.

• State-Centered Theories

  • According to state-centered theories of inequality, the government should regulate the distribution of resources to protect workers.
  • Laissez-faire policy led to corporate monopolies and a vast gap between the wealth of capitalist business owners and wage laborers.
  • Communism operates on the principle that resources should be completely equally distributed, on the basis that every person has a natural right to food, shelter, and generally an equal share of a society's wealth.
  • Distribution of output would be based on the principle of individual contribution.
  • Accordingly, these theories propose that states should enact policies to prevent exploitation and promote the equal distribution of goods and wages.

• Global Stratification and Inequality

  • Material resources are not distributed equally to people of all economic statuses.
  • Together with SES, these shape the unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and privileges among individuals.
  • A global structure, or a macro-level phenomenon, produces unequal distribution of resources for people living in various nations.
  • This graph illustrates the percentage of all US wealth held by the top 1% of the population.
  • This percentage has shifted over time, but has consistently been a significant portion of total US wealth, indicating that wealth is not equally distributed between all US citizens.

• Economic measures

  • GDP and GDP per capita are widely used indicators of a country's wealth.
  • The Gini coefficient (also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio) is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation's residents.
  • The Gini coefficient measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution.
  • However, a value greater than one may occur if some persons represent negative contribution to the total (e.g., have negative income or wealth).
  • The Gini coefficient was originally proposed as a measure of inequality of income or wealth.

• Wealth

  • Wealth is commonly measured in terms of net worth, which is the sum of all assets, including home equity, minus all liabilities.
  • While income is often seen as a type of wealth in colloquial language use, wealth and income are two substantially different measures of economic prosperity.
  • Home ownership is one of the main sources of wealth among families in the United States.
  • In 2007 the richest 1% of the American population owned 34.6% of the country's total wealth, and the next 19% owned 50.5%.
  • Thus, the top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country's wealth and the bottom 80% of the population owned 15%.

• Growing Global Inequality

  • There is a wide gap between the wealth of the world's richest countries and its poorest.
  • The Waltons are able to use their wealth to further increase their earnings and protect their position at the top of the economic hierarchy.
  • Around the year 1970, world income was distributed between extremely rich and extremely poor countries, with little overlap.
  • Thus, there is a broader spectrum of incomes, with fewer people living at the extremes of wealth and poverty than in the past.
  • Evidence used by researchers to demonstrate the presence of global inequality includes: the poorest 10% of Americans have a higher standard of living than 2/3 of the world's population; the richest 1% of the world's population holds as much wealth as the poorest 10% of the population; and the three richest individuals in the world possess greater wealth than the poorest 10% of the population.