The Economics of Inequality, Discrimination, Poverty, and Mobility

by Rycroft; Robert

• ISBN13: 9780765623263
• ISBN10: 0765623269
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-10-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Thoroughly classroom tested, this introductory-level text surveys what economists have to say about inequality (or income and wealth distribution), poverty, mobility--both intragenerational (within careers), and intergenerational (between generations)--and discrimination (on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, gender, and many other factors) in the United States. This text brings the undergraduate treatment of these issues up-to-date, featuring detailed, non-mathematical examination of the economic theory underlying the analysis. There is a greater emphasis on mobility, on wealth accumulation, distribution and inheritance, and on discrimination law than in other texts. The author provides full and fair treatment of competing sides in several of the controversial issues in the field, written in such a way that instructors can use the text material to motivate a variety of classroom discussions.

Table of Contents

Preface

The Pie and How We Slice It

Inequality

Labor's Slice of the Pie

The Foundations of Labor's Slice

The Slices of Capital, Land, and Entrepreneurship

Labor Markets That Do Not Clear

Slicing the Pie in a Non-discriminatory Pure Market Economy

Equalizing the Slices

How Big a Slice Do We Deserve?

Discrimination

Does the Slice We Receive Depend on Our Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Etc.?

Detecting and Measuring Discrimination

Reducing the Impact of Discrimination on How the Pie is Sliced

Poverty

A Slice Too Small

Making Small Slices Larger

Mobility

How the Size of a Slice Changes Over a Career

How the Size of a Slice Changes from Generation to Generation

The Accumulation, Distribution, and Transfer of Wealth

Final Thoughts

Equalizing and Enlarging the Slices

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.