The Economics Show
Rethinking income inequality, with Chris Giles
Aug 5, 2024
Chris Giles, an economics commentator for the Financial Times, joins to discuss new research challenging the prevailing views on income inequality in the US over the last 75 years. They dive into the contentious methodologies that highlight discrepancies in income data, especially regarding the top 1%. The conversation touches on how government spending impacts different income groups and presents diverse perspectives on the issue. Giles emphasizes the importance of debate in economics for refining understanding and pushing the field forward.
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Quick takeaways
- Recent research disputes the assumption of rising income inequality in the U.S., prompting a reevaluation of how this data is analyzed.
- The debate on income inequality highlights other pressing forms of inequality, such as health disparities, that require urgent policy attention.
Deep dives
Inequality Disputed: Rethinking the Evidence
Recent research challenges the widely accepted narrative that income inequality in the United States has significantly increased over the past few decades. Economists Gerald Orton and David Splinter argue that when analyzing tax return data from 1960 to 2020, there has been little to no rise in inequality. Their findings contradict both the popular interpretations of Thomas Piketty's work and the conventional wisdom that supports the narrative of growing inequality. This contention has sparked a heated debate among economists, prompting a reevaluation of how income data is interpreted and represented.
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