annotated

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First and Last Name

Professor Cizek

EGL 1010

Day Month Year

Annotated Bibliography: Unequal Wealth Distribution

Berman, Yonatan, Eshel Ben-Jacob †, and Yoash Shapira. "The Dynamics of Wealth Inequality

and the Effect of Income Distribution." PLoS One, vol. 11, no. 4, 2016. ProQuest,

https://ezproxy.pgcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1783674833?

accountid=13315, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154196.

Summary:

● This source provides a theoretical tool, based on the realistic modeling of wealth

inequality dynamics, to describe the effects of personal savings and income distribution

on wealth inequality. They use mathematical equations to produces models of income

and wealth inequality.

Source Evaluation:

● This is a peer-reviewed article written in 2016, so it is recent. The authors are all experts

in their respective fields. It is also from a dependable research database, so I think it is a

reliable source.

Reflection:

● This source provided me with some cause of wealth inequality as well as existing

solutions to combat it. The article claims that the existing solution to unequal wealth

distribution is progressive income tax, meaning taxing the rich more than people with

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lower incomes. Their models show that this solution does not make a big difference in

wealth inequality.

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Fix, Blair. "Energy, Hierarchy and the Origin of Inequality." PLoS One, vol. 14, no. 4, 2019.

ProQuest, https://ezproxy.pgcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/

2214463147?accountid=13315, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215692.

Summary:

● This source claims that the origins of wealth inequality can be traced back to the

institutional structure of industrial societies. The author uses models to compare modern

trends to the past.

Source Evaluation:

● The author of this article is a political economist. He has written multiple articles on this

topic he provides contact information, so he has authority on the topic. It was published

in April of 2019, so it is very recent. He also provides evidence to his claims in the form

of graphs and diagrams, which shows that the source is accurate. This all leads me to

believe the source is credible.

Reflection:

● This source provides background on the causes of wealth inequality. It shows that

unequal wealth distribution is a systematic problem rather than a result of individual

circumstances.

Maroto, M. (2016). Growing farther apart: Racial and ethnic inequality in household wealth

across the distribution. Sociological Science, 3, 801-824.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15195/v3.a34

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Summary:

● This article investigates net worth disparities by race and ethnicity using pooled data

from the 1998–2013 waves of the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances. It included

decomposition models, which show that race and income differences mattered more for

high-wealth households. These variables accounted for 43–55 percent of the gap for high-

wealth households

Source Evaluation:

● The author of this article is an associate professor in the Sociology Department at the

University of Alberta with a Ph.D. in Sociology. This is a peer-reviewed, scholarly article

that is fairly recent being written in 2016, and it contains a lot of evidence. Because of

this, I think the source is reliable.

Reflection:

● This source gave me some insight into who is negatively impacted by unequal wealth

distribution. The groups that are negatively impacted by this are Black and Non-White

Latino/Hispanic households.

Shapiro, Thomas, and Hannah Thomas. "Prologue for Special Issue on Race and Wealth." Race

and Social Problems, vol. 8, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1-3. ProQuest,

https://ezproxy.pgcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1771600642?

accountid=13315, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12552-016-9168-7.

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Summary:

● This source discusses the wealth disparities between different races during the Civil

Rights Movement of the 1960s. It also discusses the history of what led to these

disparities.

Source evaluation:

● This is a peer-reviewed and recent article from 2016. It is also from a reputable database,

ProQuest. Thomas M. Shapiro, the author of this article, is a professor of Sociology and

Public Policy at Brandeis University, so he has the authority to speak on topics

concerning economics.

Reflection:

● This source provided me with evidence on who is most negatively impacted by unequal

wealth distribution. It specifically stated the reason such a wide wealth gap exists and

why the gap is failing to reduce.

Stiglitz, Joseph E. "THE ORIGINS OF INEQUALITY, AND POLICIES TO CONTAIN IT."

National Tax Journal, vol. 68, no. 2, 2015, pp. 425-448. ProQuest,

https://ezproxy.pgcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1709799384?

accountid=133 15 .

Summary:

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● This article critiques the idea that wealth inequality is an inevitable consequence of

capitalism. It states that wealth inequality is rather a direct result of our current social

structure.

Source Evaluation:

● This is a peer-reviewed article from 2015, so it is recent. The author is an American

economist, a public policy analyst, a professor at Columbia University, and a recipient of

the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which means he is qualified to speak on

the topic of wealth distribution. The author also includes many sources.

Reflection:

● This article can help me answer questions related to the causes of unequal wealth

distribution. It also helped me see the ways wealth inequality is being combated

currently.

Sutch, Richard. "The One Percent Across Two Centuries: A Replication of Thomas Piketty's

Data on the Concentration of Wealth in the United States." Social Science History, vol.

41, no. 4, 2017, pp. 587-613. ProQuest,

https://ezproxy.pgcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1950793242?

accountid=13315, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2017.27.

Summary:

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● This article reproduces and assesses the historical time series on the top shares of the

wealth distribution for the United States presented by Thomas Piketty in Capital in the

Twenty-First Century. It offers an alternative picture of the trend in inequality based on

newly available data and a reanalysis of the 1870 Census of Wealth.

Source Evaluation:

● Richard Sutch was a professor of economics at the University of California Riverside. He

is noted for his work on the economic analysis of U.S. slavery and emancipation.

Because of this, I think he has the authority to speak on the topic. This article is also peer-

reviewed and recent, from 2017, so I think it is a reliable source.

Reflection:

● This article can help me answer questions related to the causes of unequal wealth

distribution. It mentions recent trends in wealth inequality as well as data about the

typical rise of a person within the top one percent of net income.