Income Inequality in American Society, Term Paper

Various factors are taken into consideration when calculating the income distribution, out of which the nominal income is most common. Aside form this, attention should be given to consumption levels of both subsidy products (food, clothing, housing) as well as to luxury products and services. In addition, several social and demographic criteria of the population must be considered, such as the level of education, housing facilities (personal property or rental), industry in which the population activates (manufacturing, services, Information Technology or agriculture) and working and social conditions, such as access to housing or education. Also, political and economical factors must be taken into consideration, including international trade policies, governmental regulations, competition on the market or unemployment rate.

All statistical observations and analyses point out the sad fact that the American incomes are extremely unevenly distributed. "A statistical summary of U.S. family income distribution since World War II shows the following:

1. The U.S. family income distribution is highly unequal.

2. The degree of income inequality is not much greater today than it was at the end of World War II.

3. Family income inequality declined slowly from 1946 through 1969, increased slowly from 1970 through 1979, and has increased somewhat faster since then." (Levy, 2002)

Bibliography

Larden, J., Collins, C., Inequality, Demos - a network for Ideas and Action, 2007, http://www.demos.org/inequality/,last accessed on December 11, 2007

Bernstein, J., the Hierarchy of Income Inequality in the United States, the Multinational Monitor, Volume 24, Number 5, 2003

Income Inequality Metrics, Wikipedia, the Free Online Encyclopedia, 2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_metrics,last accessed on December 10, 2007

Measuring Inequality, World Bank, 2007, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA/0,contentMDK:20238991~menuPK:492138~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367,00.html, last accessed on December 10, 2007

Damgaard, C., Weiner, J., Describing Inequality in Plant Size or Fecundity, Ecology 81, 2000

John, D., MacArthur, C.T., Income Inequality, Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health, 2000, http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Social%20Environment/notebook/inequality.html, last accessed on December 10, 2007

Levy, F., Distribution of Income, the Library of Economics and Liberty, 2002, http://econlib.org/library/Enc/DistributionofIncome.html,….....