Sunday, March 4, 2018

(Advanced) How economic inequality harms societies





The higher the GDP of a country the better off its people will be, right? Wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust.

Watch:

How economic inequality harms societies


True or false?

1. The average well-being of our societies is not dependent any longer on national income and economic growth.

2. There’s no relationship between child well-being and national income per person.

3. New Zealand is a comparatively equal country.

4. Poorer countries still need to focus on raising the average nation income, but richer countries need to concentrate on even distribution of income.

5. Higher rates of imprisonment are driven by higher crime.

6. In Scandinavian countries, your fathers' income is more important than in less equal countries.

7. Sweden and Japan achieve equality in similar ways.

8. In Japan there are greater differences between incomes than in Sweden.

9. It’s mostly the poor who are affected by inequality.

10. Greater equality makes most difference at the top, but has some benefits at the bottom.

11. The psychosocial effect of inequality is more status insecurity.

12. The correlation of inequality and social problems proves that they are caused by inequality.


Discuss:

"No man is an island." What was Wilkerson trying say with this quote?

Was your country on the graphs? How equal / unequal was it? What kinds of social problems do you see in your country? Are they connected with inequality? Are there other causes?







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