Julius Bär - Wealth Inequality (2024)

FAQs

What is a famous quote about wealth inequality? ›

'Wherever there is great property there is great inequality. For one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many.

Income inequality has increased in the United States over the past 30 years, as income has flowed unequally to those at the very top of the income spectrum. Current economic literature largely points to three explanatory causes of falling wages and rising income inequality: technology, trade, and institutions.

By the start of the 2020s, this light tax touch on America's most financially favored had left America's richest 0.01 percent with 10 percent of the nation's wealth, five times the top 0.01 percent's wealth share in the late 1970s — and over 10 percent above the top 0.01 percent's share of the nation's treasure in 1913 ...

Wealth Inequality

Wealth refers to the total amount of assets of an individual or household. This may include financial assets, such as bonds and stocks, property and private pension rights. Wealth inequality therefore refers to the unequal distribution of assets in a group of people.

Federal Reserve data indicates that as of Q4 2021, the top 1% of households in the United States held 32.3% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.6%.

There is another level of financial elite within the 1% called ultra-high net work individuals, or UHNWI. In the U.S., it may take you $5.81 million to be in the top 1%, but it takes a minimum net worth of $30 million to be considered among the ultra-high net worth crowd.

South Africa had the highest inequality in income distribution in 2023 with a Gini score of 63. Its South African neighbor Namibia followed in second.

Introduction to Inequality

Excessive inequality can erode social cohesion, lead to political polarization, and lower economic growth. Learn more about the inequality, its causes and consequences and how the IMF helps countries in tackling inequality.

How does wealth inequality affect the US? ›

Income inequality is a problem because it puts power in the hands of the rich, resulting in little-to-no social or economic mobility for large portions of the population. It can result in a higher cost of living for many, increased hardship, and rises in crime, mental illness, and social unrest.

From 1970 to 2018, the share of aggregate income going to middle-class households fell from 62% to 43%. Over the same period, the share held by upper-income households increased from 29% to 48%. The share flowing to lower-income households inched down from 10% in 1970 to 9% in 2018.

We have shown labour income inequality has been a huge factor in the growing gap between rich and poor in the US. Controlling unemployment and designing policies aimed at boosting wages at the lower end of the market must be a priority if wealth inequality is to be reduced.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the vast majority—roughly 80%—of the world lived in material conditions that we would refer to as extreme poverty today. In 1975, 175 years later, the world had changed—it had become very unequal.

The Great Depression was partly caused by the great inequality between the rich who accounted for a third of all wealth and the poor who had no savings at all. As the economy worsened many lost their fortunes, and some members of high society were forced to curb their extravagant lifestyles.

“Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth. Socialism is the equal distribution of poverty”- Winston Churchill.

Aristotle on Wealth

The life of money-making is one undertaken under compulsion since wealth is not the good we are seeking and is merely useful for the sake of something else.

“If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” “Before God, we are all equally wise, and equally foolish.” “Equality means nothing unless incorporated into the institutions.” “*ntil we get equality in education, we won't have an equal society.”

The wealth of a nation consists, not in the abundance of its bank accounts, but in the abundance of its productions. People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public.