Inequality Discussion

Part 1

Based on Unit 19.2:

Much of the inequality in the world today can be traced to differences among people in things over which they have virtually no control, such as their race, sex, nation, or parents. We call these differences ‘accidents of birth

To see how important accidents of birth can be, try the following thought experiment.

Suppose that all you care about is income, and you can choose either:

a) the income decile you are in, but the country you are born in will be decided by chance

OR

b) the country you are born in, but the decile you are in within the country will be decided by chance
Did you choose option a (the decile) or option b (the country)? Explain your rationale for your choice

Part 2

Using the American Community Survey's  Household Income (2018) document available through this  link  (https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2019/demo/p60-266.pdf)

Choose two groups to compare on median annual income.  Note,  you can choose to compare any two data points (categories) at the same point in time or the same category (ie hispanic women across two points in time)*  Why did you choose to compare the data you did?  What was interesting or concerning to you?  Based on your readings give one policy change to address this disparity.  More generally, what are the implications for growing inequality in the United States?

*note that the report is very long,  so use the table of contents to help direct you. 

Link to the free Ebook: (https://core-econ.org/the-economy/book/text/19.html#191-inequality-across-the-world-and-over-time)