Changing Inequality (Google eBook)

Rebecca M. Blank

University of California Press, Jun 28, 2011 - Social Science - 240 pages

Rebecca M. Blank offers the first comprehensive analysis of an economic trend that has been reshaping the United States over the past three decades: rapidly rising income inequality. In clear language, she provides an overview of how and why the level and distribution of income and wealth has changed since 1979, sets this situation within its historical context, and investigates the forces that are driving it. Among other factors, Blank looks closely at changes within families, including women’s increasing participation in the work force. The book includes some surprising findings—for example, that per-person income has risen sharply among almost all social groups, even as income has become more unequally distributed. Looking toward the future, Blank suggests that while rising inequality will likely be with us for many decades to come, it is not an inevitable outcome. Her book considers what can be done to address this trend, and also explores the question: why should we be concerned about this phenomenon?

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Changes in Income and Earnings: 15
• Can Inequality be Reduced?: 115
• Details of the Chapter 2 Simulation and Appendix Figures: 164
• Figures Showing Income Components by Decile 1979 and 2007: 173
• Details of the Chapter 4 Simulations: 182
• Details of the Chapter 6 Simulations: 186
• Notes: 193
• References: 203
• Index: 215

About the author

Rebecca M. Blank is former Robert Kerr Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Dean of the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Most recently, she coedited Insufficient Funds: Savings, Asset, Credit and Banking Among Low-Income Households and Working and Poor: How Economic and Policy Changes are Affecting Low-Wage Workers. She is also the author of It Takes a Nation: A New Agenda for Fighting Poverty, among other books.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Changing Inequality; Volume 8 of Wildavsky Forum Series
• Author: Rebecca M. Blank
• Publisher: University of California Press, 2011
• ISBN: 0520950194, 9780520950191
• Length: 240 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations