I think tragically a lot of people look at corporate profits as exploitation of consumers. And similarly they have this weird idea that corporate pay, CEO pay, comes at someone's expense. So we have all these comparisons that we see in the media typically about this group's income being a fraction of that group's income. Why are those group comparisons so misleading? Because there was never any reason to expect the group to be the same in the first place. People who are 40 years old usually make a lot more money than people who are 20 years old.
Thomas Sowell of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his new book, Economic Facts and Fallacies. He discusses the misleading nature of measured income inequality, CEO pay, why nations grow or stay poor, the role of intellectuals and experts in designing public policy, and immigration.