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Some countries have less inequality, but also have less average wealth. People do not migrate to those poorer countries seeking to be richer than their neighbor
by bendykstra 11y ago
Some countries have less inequality, but also have less average wealth. People do not migrate to those poorer countries seeking to be richer than their neighbors. Instead, people tend to migrate to areas of higher wealth, even though it means they will have less relative wealth. It's clear that absolute wealth is more important to people than the zero-sum game of relative wealth.
- nabla9 11y agoMedian wealth is what's interesting. Compare list of countries by net mean and median wealth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe...
- jbotttt 11y agoIt's more interesting in chart form: http://imgur.com/GZxm0hD http://imgur.com/GZxm0hD
- Retric 11y agoThat's a rather biased chart. Net median wealth per adult. Australia 219,505 Luxembourg 182,768 Belgium 148,141 France 141,850 Italy 138,653 United Kingdom 111,524 Japan 110,294 Iceland 104,733 Switzerland 95,916 Finland 95,095 Norway 92,859 Canada 90,252 Netherlands 83,631 New Zealand 76,607 Ireland 75,573 Spain 63,306 Denmark 57,675 Austria 57,450 Greece 53,937 Sweden 52,677 Germany 49,370 Slovenia 44,932 United States 44,911 ... PS: US only has high wealth if you ignore debt. Owing 200k on a 200k house is not wealth.
- jbotttt 11y agoThere was some slight of hand on my part, the ratios are plotted, not the absolute numbers. The wealth inequality is more interesting than absolute country wealth in the context of the simulation I feel. I agree regarding the debt, that's why net and gross values are included in the chart. For the top 3 it makes no difference. Iceland as an outlier isn't something I would have expected though Edit: Also the mean probably isn't defined for whatever power law is generating wealth distribution in each country anyway
- nabla9 11y agoRelationship between inequality and economic growth is interesting subject. Inequality seems to have a negative impact on economic growth. http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/trends-in-income-inequality-and-its-impact-on-economic-growth-SEM-WP163.pdf http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/trends-in-income-inequality-and-...
- whybroke 11y ago1. By that logic, everyone who doesn't migrate from such a country is voting in favor of equality over absolute wealth and they constitute a much larger number. 2. To some degree, people do migrate to poorer areas and countries, including those of retirement age, to improve their perceived quality of life which is solely due to greater difference in wealth.
- mantasm 11y agoI would argue it's not the difference in wealth, but the cost of living, that entices these people to move to poorer areas. The greater difference in wealth may in fact hold them back, for fear of criminals with even less to lose than the criminals in their home country.
- crdoconnor 11y ago>Some countries have less inequality, but also have less average wealth. People do not migrate to those poorer countries seeking to be richer than their neighbors. Of course they do. Retiring abroad in low cost locales is very common these days.