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Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

wid.world

11–20 of 248 posts

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#11

Wealth inequality changed drastically between 1900 and now. According to the graph, in 1901, the U.K.'s top 1% controlled 73.8% of the nation's wealth. Today it's about 20%. I wonder what factors caused that change. Wars and emigration maybe have something to do with it?

Are we looking at the same graph? The same tool is showing me they were ~20% in 1920, and doesn't have data for earlier.

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#12

Wealth inequality changed drastically between 1900 and now. According to the graph, in 1901, the U.K.'s top 1% controlled 73.8% of the nation's wealth. Today it's about 20%. I wonder what factors caused that change. Wars and emigration maybe have something to do with it?

I know that during and after WW2, USA enacted significant anti-trust legislation that broke up and prevented the formation of monopolies, while at the same time allowing for the widespread adoption of worker unions. Taxes were also higher at this time. Did similar legislation occur in the UK during that time period?

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#14
post #11

Wealth inequality changed drastically between 1900 and now. According to the graph, in 1901, the U.K.'s top 1% controlled 73.8% of the nation's wealth. Today it's about 20%. I wonder what factors caused that change. Wars and emigration maybe have something to do with it?

Are we looking at the same graph? The same tool is showing me they were ~20% in 1920, and doesn't have data for earlier.

You're looking at income, not wealth

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#15
post #5

What does 'Income Equality' look like?

Abolition of class. Democratic control over the means of production.

These days I don't see much production around.

It's probably somewhere in the industrial zones on the outskirts of cities, but it's not something many people do.

As a software developer I produce code. How would you exert democratic control over means of such production? Will it involve lots of tin foil?

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#16
post #7

What does 'Income Equality' look like?

In the way the term is used here, income equality is (the inverse of) income inequality. More equal, less equal... it's a measure, not a state. This is like asking what does wealth look like.

If you have two popsicles, and I have one - we could achieve popsicle equality by throwing one of yours away. We have overall less popsicles but greater equality.

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#17

Wealth inequality changed drastically between 1900 and now. According to the graph, in 1901, the U.K.'s top 1% controlled 73.8% of the nation's wealth. Today it's about 20%. I wonder what factors caused that change. Wars and emigration maybe have something to do with it?

[deleted]

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#18

Wealth inequality changed drastically between 1900 and now. According to the graph, in 1901, the U.K.'s top 1% controlled 73.8% of the nation's wealth. Today it's about 20%. I wonder what factors caused that change. Wars and emigration maybe have something to do with it?

Many things, from the Liberal government's new taxes on landed wealth in the 1910s, to the advent of democratic socialism and universal healthcare after the Labour party's victory in the 1945 election, to the 'Long Boom' of economic growth that the whole capitalist world experienced from the end of WW2 up to the 1970s.

Data like these are interesting, but you still need the deep historical context to make sense of what it all means. Of course, for the overall big picture, you couldn't do better than Thomas Piketty's _Capital in the Twenty-First Century_.

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#19

Wealth inequality changed drastically between 1900 and now. According to the graph, in 1901, the U.K.'s top 1% controlled 73.8% of the nation's wealth. Today it's about 20%. I wonder what factors caused that change. Wars and emigration maybe have something to do with it?

The biggest factor is probably inheritance tax and the slow fade of the aristocracy.

There may also be a "hidden wealth" effect as people move it offshore; is someone domiciled in the Cayman Islands who lives in the UK for <6mo a year part of the "UK" graph?

Re: Explore Wealth and Income Inequality in the World Wealth and Income Database

#20

What does 'Income Equality' look like?

Milton Friedman's three categories for human equality: equality before God, equality of opportunity and equality of outcome - the second is compatible with liberty, and the third is socialism.
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