Rich and poor in America : a reference handbook / Geoffrey Gilbert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gilbert, Geoffrey, 1948-

Series:

Contemporary world issues

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Income distribution--United States.

Income distribution.

United States.

Equality--United States.

Equality.

Wealth--United States.

Wealth.

Poverty--United States.

Poverty.

United States--Economic policy.

Economic policy.

Physical Description:

xv, 275 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, [2008]

Contents:

1 Background and History 1

A Widening Gap 3

Measuring Income Inequality 5

Wealth Inequality 7

Long-Term Trends 9

Rowboats, Yachts, and Rising Tides 11

Race, Ethnicity, and Economic Inequality 13

Income Inequality and Health 16

Income Inequality and Education 18

A Shrinking Middle Class? 21

From Rich to Poor and Poor to Rich: Mobility 23

Rich and Poor: The Political Dimension 25

2 Problems, Controversies, and Solutions 31

The Wage Structure and Human Capital 32

Labor Skills, Labor Demand, and Technological Change 33

International Competition 35

Immigration 37

Unions and the Wage Distribution 39

The Minimum Wage and Inequality 41

Winner Take All? 42

Family Structure and Income Distribution 44

Political Perspectives on Income Inequality 46

Education as an Income Equalizer 47

The Effectiveness of Early Interventions 48

U.S. Schools and Inequality 51

Ways to Improve Low-SES Student Performance 53

College: Ticket to the Middle Class 55

Working on the Labor Market 57

The Living Wage as a Boost to Low Wages 58

Stronger Unions as a Means to Lift Low Wages 59

Earned Income Tax Credit 60

Limits on CEO Pay 62

Immigrant Labor Supplies 63

Taxes and Transfer Payments 65

Wealth and Estate Taxes 68

Asset-Building Policies 70

3 Worldwide Perspective 79

A World of Contrasts 79

National Rates of Income Inequality 81

Income Inequality in Latin America and Africa 83

Poverty in the Rich Countries 85

National Trends in Income Inequality 87

Income by Country: Divergence or Convergence? 90

A New Concept of Global Inequality 92

Less Inequality, Less Poverty? 94

Economic Mobility: The United States in Global Perspective 96

Top U.S. Incomes in Worldwide Perspective 98

CEO Pay and Income Inequality 99

Wealth Taxes: A (So Far) Non-American Response to Wealth Inequality 101

A Caution on Wealth Taxes 103

Horatio Alger Jr. 127

Anne L. Alstott 128

Warren E. Buffett 129

John Bates Clark 130

Chuck Collins 131

Marian Wright Edelman 132

John Edwards 133

Barbara Ehrenreich 134

Victor R. Fuchs 135

William H. Gates III 136

Corrado Gini 137

Hetty Green 138

Dolores Huerta 139

Jonathan Kozol 140

Simon Kuznets 141

Bhashkar Mazumder 142

Sara S. McLanahan 143

Mollie Orshansky 144

John D. Rockefeller 145

Paul G. Schervish 146

Thomas M. Shapiro 147

Michael Sherraden 148

Ronald J. Sider 149

Timothy M. Smeeding 150

Samuel Walton 151

Richard Wilkinson 151

Edward N. Wolff 152

6 Data and Documents 155

Inequality and the American Public: The Maxwell School Survey 171

Perceptions of Inequality Trends 171

Concerns about Inequality 173

California Kids Investment and Development Savings (KIDS) Accounts 175

Ben Bernanke on U.S. Income Inequality 179

Pay without Performance: The Great CEO Guarantee 182

Are CEOs Overpaid? 184

The Estate Tax 'Recycles' Opportunity 187

Being Profitable Is Giving Back 190

Andrew Carnegie on What to Do with a Fortune [1889] 192

Giving Back, Big Time: The Carnegie-Buffett Connection 194

Being Poor 197

7 Directory of Organizations 201

8 Selected Print and Nonprint Resources 227

Articles 227

Nonprint Resources 247

Videos 251

Contact Information for Video Distributors and Vendors 256.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781598840568

1598840568

9781598840575

1598840576

OCLC:

173807621

Online:

Publisher description