I wanna an Economy paper, it's only 1 or 2 pages

Writing Assignment #1: Why Has Income Inequality Been Rising Since the 1970’s?

Reading: "Skills, Education, and the Rise of Earnings Inequality Among the Other 99 Percent," by David H. Autor, on Blackboard, Writing Assignments folder, Writing

Assignment #1 folder.

Below are two competing views (Proposition #1 and Proposition #2) on why income inequality has been

rising (even among the lower 99%) in the United States since the 1970’s.

Proposition #1:

“More people are falling behind today because they’re lazy. In the U.S. anyone willing to work can earn a

decent living. The income distribution is the same as the effort distribution. People who work hard earn a

good living. Lazy people stay poor. The income distribution has been skewing because of a growing

culture of dependency. It used to be shameful to accept handouts from the government, but now it’s

perfectly acceptable. So more people opt out of the labor force and sit around collecting handouts from

the rest of us. Of course their incomes are going to be lower than those in the top tiers.”

Proposition #2:

“The incomes of the rich and poor have been growing farther apart due to purposeful policy decisions that

have favored the rich at the expense of the poor. Starting with Ronald Reagan’s financial deregulation,

and continuing with successive Republican attacks on New Deal and Great Society social programs to

finance tax cuts for their Wall Street cronies, government policy in this country has systematically

channeled the rewards of our immensely productive economy towards the rich and away from the poor.

America needs to open the gateway to prosperity for all through fair tax policies, decent minimum wages,

better public schools, aid to low-income college students, and a universal health care system.”

Here are the questions I want you to address:

1. What is actually driving the observed changes in the income distribution, according to David H.

Autor’s analysis? In the first paragraph, summarize Autor’s analysis. What does he identify as the

major cause of rising inequality? What are some of the factors Autor identifies as having

contributed to an increase in the demand for highly-educated workers and a decrease in the

demand for less-educated workers?

2. Which proposition’s policy prescriptions are more consistent with the policies that Autor

recommends? The two propositions have very different policy implications. If you believe that

income inequality is being driven by laziness and a culture of dependency, and your roommate

believes it’s being driven by tax and spending policies that systematically favor the rich, you will

disagree about the kinds of policies that might address the problem. While neither of the

propositions above is wholly consistent with Autor’s analysis, in your second paragraph, tell me

which proposition’s policy prescriptions are more consistent with the policies that Autor

recommends. Use specific examples from the article to support your conclusion. (Autor

discusses policy prescriptions in the very last paragraph of the article.)

Grading Rubric The table below shows the criteria your essay will be judged against. I expect about one page,

double-spaced. Your essay will be assessed as either ‘Meets expectations’ or ‘Needs improvement’

on each of the 5 criteria in the table below. If your essay meets expectations on 3 of the five

criteria, your score will be 60%; 2 out of five criteria met will result in a score of 40%, etcetera.

This is the first of four writing assignments. After receiving feedback, you have a week to

revise and re-submit the essay to NetTutor – but you only get one second chance on each writing

assignment. If you don’t get an acceptable score, even after revising and resubmitting this

assignment, you can still rescue your writing assignment average by doing well on the next three

assignments. I will take the average of your three highest writing assignment scores to compute

your writing assignment average.

5 Criteria Meets Expectations Needs Improvement

Writing

Ideas are well-organized. Transition sentences effectively connect one idea to the next. The essay is free of typos and grammatical errors.

The writing is difficult to follow and/or poorly organized. Transition sentences are absent or ineffective. Typos and/or grammatical errors distract the reader.

Economic analysis

The student correctly identifies the major cause of rising inequality in Autor’s analysis.

The student misrepresents Autor’s claim about the major cause of rising inequality.

Contributing factors that have affected the demand and supply of labor are thoroughly and correctly discussed.

Contributing factors to changes in the demand and supply of labor are incorrectly or incompletely described.

The student explicitly states which proposition’s policy implications are more consistent with Autor’s research than the other.

The student does not clearly state which proposition is more consistent with Autor’s claims.

The student supports his or her claims with examples from the reading.

The student’s support for his or her conclusion is weak or based on a mis-interpretation of Autor’s main argument.