3.1 Sources of Economic Growth and Social-Justice Egyptian per-capita income has been significantly improved in the second half of the first decade of 21st century, as it recorded, in average, $1984 (standard deviation $167), compared to $1312 (standard deviation $597), in average, during the first half of the decade. Figure (1) illustrates the development of per-capita income through the first decade of 21th century and it shows that per-capita income growth rates were, in most, negative during the first half of the first decade of 21st century; and then, these negative rates turn to be positive during the second half, which indicates improvement in the level of economic activity during this half of the decade. Figure 1: Per-Capita Income Growth Rates Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators database on the internet. The improvement in the level of economic activity did not support the status of income equality. In contrast, the process of income distribution was in favor of the elites and upper class people in the society, which increases the gap between poor and rich categories in the Egyptian economy (El Mghazy , 2013). In this context, identifying the sources of economic growth will be useful to know something about the effect of economic growth on the issue of social-justice. The Cobb-Douglas production function states that aggregate output is based on three main variables: physical capital, human capital and productivity; and it represented as follows
The UK has seen significant variation in inequality growth over the last three decades. Income inequality, for all measures, rose strongly in the 1980s, with some further rise in the late 1990s (Blundel 2009). Wage inequality in the UK grew rapidly during the 1980s and continued to increase during the 1990s, before slowing in the 2000s and overall over the past three decades, wage gaps have increased more in the UK than in most other developed countries (Lee 2013).
Global discourse around the issue of growing inequality and specifically inequality of opportunity has come to the fore in recent years driven by violent public action witnessed in the spring of 2011. A little southern town in Tunisia known as Sidi Bouzoid in December 2010 took global centre stage in the push for economic emancipation. Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor vented his frustration with the local corrupt municipality by setting himself ablaze which inadvertently sparked a series of protests across the Arab world. Enter the ‘Arab Spring’ led by disenfranchised youth. Researchers in attempts to diagnose the inspiration for the ensuing revolutions hypothesised stark inequality between economic and political elites and the larger population, as the fuel behind the flame.
Multiple studies on the different aspects of income and wealth inequality have been conducted for years. Francois Nielson and Arthur S. Alderson (1997) from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Sociology Department used the Kuznets Curve, which graphs economic inequality against income per capita over the course of economic development in their paper (About.com, 2016). They discussed the determinants of inequality in family income throughout 3,100 counties in the United States from 1970, 1980 and 1990 (p. 1). Their goal was to provide a look into global trends in social inequality (p. 1). The data they used was from the US Census Bureau and was measured using the Gini Coefficient. It was then calculated from the distribution of family income at the county level and from raw data (p. 2). Using Kuznets Curve as a model they wanted to use two trends, the declining level
Income Inequality is “The unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy. Income inequality is often presented as the percentage of income to a percentage of population.” (Investopedia). Some believe income equality is the biggest problem of the 21st century, President Obama believes it to be “the defining challenge of our time” (white house). Some economist believe that increase inequality has a correlation effect with higher rates of health problems, social problems, that it harms economic growth, creates higher persistent unemployment and polarizes opportunity. Historically one can make the argument that other advance nations who have collapsed, have had great inequality and economic stratification. Other economist argue that true ‘equality’ is impossible because people have different skills and abilities. Income inequality natural and a benefit because I creates incentive to work harder. It’s important to understand the effects of income inequality on a nation’s society and labor force. What type of problems income inequality could cause or doesn’t cause. This essay will give a comparative study of Income inequality in the United States of America and France, and how it effects labor and economic activity.
First of all, economic growth is one of the macroeconomic objectives that the government wants to achieve as a primary goal and it happens when there is a rise in the enlarged product of population and per capita consumption. According to Hoover (2011), economic growth is the total material output of good values and service values in the market, measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a specific period of time. The growth of GDP is measured by excluding intermediate consumptions (production and resale), purely financial transactions and second-hand sales, which prevents double counting. To obtain an accurate value of economic growth, GDP needs to include the total output of expenditures and incomes.
Back in fifty years ago, economic inequality has caused the same problem that is happening today. Since the 1979, the economic inequality has increased, and the gap between the rich and poor has also
Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty attempts to answer some questions regarding inequality. He argues that we are now re-entering a more typical period of low growth. Thus, the rate of return on investment rapidly outpaces the rate of overall economic growth (r > g). A trend well-nknown through history until the 19th century. He predicts that this path will likely continue in the 21st century, resulting in wealth growing faster than output and income—thus pushing towards divergence of equality.
There has been a debate about the income inequality. Some people stand by that the rich are richer and the poor are poorer. As the evidence of it, the rich have large part of the social resource than before, so that the poor have less and less part of community resources. On the other hand, the opponents people argue that the poor are richer. Compared to previous, the society has much more resources. Even the poor people have less part of resources then before, they actually have more. The debate has been going on for years, and both side of the argument are justified. The fight will continue, but both side of the debate believe that income inequality is exist. Most people don’t like the income inequality, and thinks it will hurts economic
French social philosopher, Alex de Tocqueville (1805-1889), once said, “However energetically society in general may strive to make all citizens equal and alike, the personal pride of each individual will always make him try to escape from the common level, and he will form some inequality somewhere to his own profit.” Through the ages, income inequality has caused class conflict, created political systems (communism), and has simultaneously promoted vast increases in wealth and technological advances. The purpose of this paper is to research and examine the benefits and detriments, or pros and cons, of income inequality and to then render my opinion regarding my findings. Because income inequality is vast in nature, this paper will
A high GDP or a percentage increase is considered good and represents a positive, growing economy whereas a lower GDP (in comparison to other countries) or a percentage decrease represents just the opposite. In the article, it takes a closer look at the year so far and breaks it into quarters. The GDP has increased from 1.2% in January to 3% in August. The change and jump represents economic growth occurring.
This brief article complements the others in showing how specific groups were affected by wealth inequality instead of making a generalized statement. It is good to pinpoint
Income redistribution refers to the concept of transferring income from the wealthy individuals to the less wealthy individuals through social mechanisms such as monetary policies, charity, welfare, land reforms, and taxation among others. Income redistribution affects the entire economy rather than selected groups of individuals. The concept of income redistribution emanates from the existence of income inequalities within an economy. Income inequality depicts a gap between the highest and the lowest income earners in an economy (Tullock 13). Income inequality is sometimes considered appropriate in societies since it acts as an incentive in free market economies, whereby in the absence of inequality, elements of economic stagnation and lack of enterprise would emerge. Conversely, income inequality is criticized on the basis of introducing contributing towards the development of key problems in the society, including progression of poverty levels. This paper seeks to explore the concept of income redistribution and its key pros and cons.
Raising peoples’ living levels, i.e. incomes and consumption, levels of food, medical services, education through relevant growth processes. 2. Creating
This can be measured by the following formula; Per capita nominal GDP = Nominal GDP / Population, Per capita real GDP = Real GDP / Population. Seven factors determine economic growth. Natural resources such as land, mineral deposits, waterways; climatic conditions provide an essential foundation to economic growth. Combined with the other resources of capital, labor and enterprises, natural resources can be developed and organized to increase the productive capacity if the nation. Consequently the quality and size of the labor force is a major determinant of economic growth. Education and vocational training are essential the growth potential of a nation. The promotion of education and job training schemes increase the knowledge, skills and flexibility of the workforce that contributes to potentially higher levels of productivity and efficiency. Whether from natural increase or immigration population growth can cause a higher level of economic growth. An increasing population requires increased public spending on housing, education and other social needs while businesses expectations of
Briefly detail your expectations about the relationship between political freedom and economic growth, as measured by real GDP per capita.- My expectations about this relationship are that as the political freedom rises so will economic growth which is expressed in terms of GDP per capita. since the independent variable political freedom is measured in units with 1 being the best, the correlation and the regression will be negative as the independent variable increase (political freedom decreases) which mean that GDP per capita will fall as well. I believe countries where there is a lack of political freedom and stability are likely to have a low economic growth compared to those who are more politically stable. This is due to the revolving government in which policies are created short term as there time in power is unknown.