Economic inequality and policy control in the United States

By Mark Stelzner

Subjects: Wages, Economic conditions, Income distribution, united states, Economic policy

Description: The income share of the top one percent of the population in the United States has increased from a little over nine percent of national income in the 1970s to 22.46 percent in 2012- a 144 percent increase. What is driving this astronomic growth in incomes for some? Is it possible the result of non-meritorious forces? If so, how has this incredibly unequal development coexisted, and indeed worsened, in a political system based on equality? Stelzner tackles each of these questions, and, in order to further develop understanding, Stelzner looks to the past and analyzes our experience with income inequality and the orientation of laws and institutions from the Gilded Age through the New and Fair Deal. He concludes that we have the tools to reduce income inequality at present- the same policies we used in the late 1930s and early 1940s. However, in order to make change durable, we have to make the political system more democratic. -- Back cover.