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I disagree, the section you complain about sits at the hook or "why you should care" section of the book. You don't need theory to talk about income inequality,
by jfrankamp 9y ago
I disagree, the section you complain about sits at the hook or "why you should care" section of the book. You don't need theory to talk about income inequality, and they do a good job. You looked, but not far enough.
- nolemurs 9y agoI did actually end up reading the first section (after seeing other comments in this thread). All I can say is that it was pretty much exactly what I expected from the title. They describe income inequality, yes. But they fail to explain how this textbook is going to provide tools to understand it any better, or why anyone should read it. I also don't feel as if there was much in the way of ideas to be gained from it beyond the simple feel for the magnitude of the inequality. But without some theory to put it in context, that magnitude has no meaning. Some amount of inequality is likely necessary. The question is how much is too much. The article doesn't bother to ask the question, or even to hint that the textbook will provide helpful tools to answer that question. I think it was Mark Twain who said there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. I'm sympathetic to the view that income inequality is a serious problem, but even so, after reading this article, I can't help but feeling I've been subjected to statistics, and not much else.