ECON1401 Written Assignment 1 – John Stuart Mill and Income Inequality
Many great economic thinkers throughout history has offered various differing yet interrelated views and ideas that may prove useful to the analysis of current issues in modern economics. A persistent issue in the modern economy is income inequality whereby the distribution of income among the population is unequal. This means that the gap between the rich and the poor increases over time if the issue is not appropriately addressed. In exploring the issue of income inequality in Australia, this essay aims to analyse the issue from the perspective of a selected economic thinker – namely John Stuart Mill – by: (1) providing a summary of Mill’s key ideas and theories, including the different forces that may have shaped his thinking; (2) applying Mill’s conceptual framework to the income inequality problem; and (3) offer solutions he might have suggested to address this problem, including policies that may be adopted and institutions that may be constructed in the Australian context.
In order to consider the problem of income inequality from Mill’s perspective, it is of imperative importance to first grasp an understanding of what factors contributed to the development of his key ideas. Known as one of the most influential figures in classical economics, Mill is more commonly described as a philosopher and socialist than an economist due to his obstinate strive for progressive social reform throughout his
In 1879 Henry George wrote an article titled “Progress and Poverty”. In this article he discussed the ongoing industry and he stated that “the wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent.
For centuries, many philosophers have discussed the issue of class struggle. Karl Marx and Andrew Carnegie both developed theories of the unequal distribution of wealth a long time ago; however the only Carnegie’s ideology could apply to American society today. In “The Communist Manifesto”, Marx first introduces the two main social classes: bourgeois (the upper class) and proletarians (the lower class or working class). He points out the revolution of industrialism has made changes of Capitalism to Communism. He suggests that the rich should redistribute property evenly because the proletarians have put a lot effort contributing in the
As civilization has evolved, economic inequality has existed since the feudal era and has made its place in modern society. It is a dilemma that examines the gap between the low wealth of the middle-class worker and the profitable earnings of the monopolizing upper-class business owner. It is a socio- economic issue that can best explored through the lens of the conflict theory; thoroughly explaining as to how the wealth gap came to exist and the consequences of such an economic state on the interaction between the middle-class worker and the wealthy businessman.
Australia is a market economy which distributes income to factors of production- land, labour, capital and enterprise. Income as defined by L. Kirkwood et al as the inflow of money to one sector of an economy from another. The distribution of income in the economy is in the form of wages, salaries, rent, interests and profit, all which are distributed by the factors of production (L. Kirkwood et al: 2006). Unlike income, wealth is the stock of goods and assets owned by individuals and the nation as a whole at a given period of time L. Kirkwood et al: 2006). As well as possessions individuals can also obtain wealth through education or obtaining a particular skill. It is with wages and salaries that determine the income and the next most important category government pensions and cash benefits L. Kirkwood et al: 2006).
From 1938-1969, in America was in a period called the great compression, a time where the difference between the richest and poorest Americans was very small and economic growth was explosive. Due to past and current economic policies and events, income inequality has exploded in America, which is why in 2015 America had the highest level of wealth inequality in the world at 80.56 gini[1] . In the future this inequality will slow down economic growth, increase debt for middle income Americans, make America less democratic, and reduce economic mobility. This problem, however, does have solutions and this paper will lay out some of the solutions and the effect they will have on the economy, but first I will explain the history of income inequality in the US.
Connell & Irving (1992) identify ‘class structure’ in Australia with the ‘ruling class’ owning property/business, and the ‘working class’ in the way of labourers whom ‘act together in resistance to the capitalists’. This is relevant today in Australia with the privileged having majority of the power and wealth. Moreover, exploitation of the ‘working class’ continue to maintain less power within the workplace & less wealth. Connell & Irving offer an uncomplicated view of class structure, (1992: p 40):
Inequality is present in every economy, but to what extent are income and wealth in Australia unequal and what government polices contravene income and wealth inequality? Income is defined as money that an individual or business receives in exchange for providing a good or service or through investing capital, while wealth is a measure of the value of all of the assets of worth owned by a person, community, company or country.
Poverty is an issue that has affected society since civilization was first created. Even with a globalized economy and economic opportunity prevalent nearly everywhere, there is still a vast majority of people who live in financial strain. According to recent information obtained by the World Bank, “10.7% of the world’s population live on less than US $1.90 a day”(World Bank 2013). In the United States considered the wealthiest nation on Earth, the poverty rate is 12.7% which is 40.6 million people(US Census Bureau 2016). Though some people are in poverty because of their own choices, poverty is a result of structural institutional practices in place.
These three people, William Graham, Henry Demarest Lloyd, and Andrew Carnegie, may have all felt differently about the topic on economic inequality but they all had good reasons to why. In conclusion, economic inequality can be seen many ways and there are ways to solve these issues. To some, the more compelling argument would be that social classes will always be unequal due to many factors, but they is not much one can do to change
As the middle class try to climb the ladder, the rich seem to own the ladder. The divide between the middle class and the rich is an increasingly major issue in Canada since long ago. Many studies done by historical and contemporary economic professionals have shown how their perspectives are positively economic based. For one example being Karl Marx; an excellent philosopher who changed economic thought during the eighteen hundreds. By arguing that all of human history is governed by economic laws that perpetuate the conflicts between different social classes, Karl Marx made the importance of his economic theory very
There are different opinions towards inequality, some people are accepting of it while others dislike the whole idea of inequality. Is it okay to let the wealthy have more control than the poor? Should their ideas matter more than the non-wealthy? And most importantly should the poor be okay with this, if not what must they do? In “Gospel of Wealth” by Andrew Carnegie and “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx, both Carnegie and Marx expose their thoughts behind inequality and its traits. They both focus and touch upon the poor (proletarians) and the rich (bourgeoisie). They bring up the pros and cons about inequality, capitalism, and communism. Inequality was in Carnegie 's view. In his opinion progress required the processes of competition. Making capitalism an engine of progress. Carnegie believed that there is good to inequality while Marx begs to differ. Marx had his own view on capitalism, he believed that it would eventually result disastrous. Marx believed communism was the best solution to keep both the proletarians and bourgeoisie in an equal place. Both of these socialists have much to say about capitalism and communism and also for economic inequality. They both share different points of view, neither wrong or right. Their opinions are based towards their life experiences and this essay will be noting the differences between they share on inequality, the means of production, and capitalism.
This paper will discuss John Stuart Mill’s argument about the freedom of expression of opinion, and how Mill justified that freedom. I will also discuss how strong his argument was and whether or not I agree with it. John Stuart Mill was a political economist, civil servant, and most importantly an English philosopher from the nineteenth century. Throughout his writing, John Stuart Mill touched on the issues of liberty, freedom and other human rights. In his philosophical work, On Liberty, he discussed the relationship between authority and liberty, as well as the importance of individuality in society. In chapter two of On Liberty, Mill examined the freedom of expression in more detail, examining arguments for and against his own.
You picked a very controversial topic for your discussion post, but agree that John Stuart Mill would find the act injustice like many other people. However it seems that your assuming all transgender are pedophiles. If we assume that they are all like that then were not giving the benefit of the doubt to the good individuals who have done nothing wrong. This is a very big and controversial topic and either way it goes one side or the other is going to be upset.
Economic inequality has been a long-debated issue within the social sciences. The origin of the most recent debate has roots in Karl Marx’s works during the 19th century. Since Marx, the equality of distribution has become a heated topic in a wide range of social science from economic to social and political. Marx saw the growing inequality and poor working conditions in the beginning of the 19th century as a never-ending process of infinite accumulation of capital. This literature subsided due to the improvement of working conditions
In the modern capitalist society, social class is the most prominent and common categorization of people based on their income, occupation and education. In Marx’s view, this type of social system requires educated citizens to become either the owner of the means of production or workers that sell the labour to function the society. To this end, school are used as a mechanism to reproduce an efficient and obedient working force and maintain the dominant position of the elites. This essay seek to analyse and criticize the central purpose of schooling implied by Marx’s historic materialism. It is important to investigate the causal factors of inequalities underlie the seemingly fair education structure, so that we can search for ways to reform to achieve human liberation ideals, prevent exacerbate the class division.