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everything gets worse in a country when there is "too much" inequality How sure are we of the causality here? Does inequality make these things happen? Maybe
by iguy 9y ago
everything gets worse in a country when there is "too much" inequality
How sure are we of the causality here? Does inequality make these things happen?
Maybe countries with strong feelings of unity tend to look after their poorest members better, and tax or restrain their wealthiest members more strongly. In countries with no such feelings it's every man for himself, and those who can screw those who can't, economically and politically. These are less nice places to live, but inequality is one of the results of this, not the cause.
- mpweiher 9y ago> How sure are we of the causality here? Does it matter? In fact, I am almost certain that these are results of other things, but that they are so closely linked that if you get income inequality as an outcome of those other things, you also get the other negative results. And vice versa.
- iguy 9y agoI think it does matter. Almost every discussion of inequality seems to be tied to a discussion of whether to use taxation (or other laws) to change it, with a view to changing these other things. And that only works if the causal link is from the money to the bad things. I'm not sure that there is no causality, BTW. I'm just objecting that too much discussion assumes it's obviously all causality: The money just falls from heaven onto certain Brazilians, not others, and that's why Rio has the murder rate they do, and you could fix it with income tax. This seems crazy.