… The Gini renders what everyone has been talking about for the past couple of years—inequality—in terms of a single, elegant number. … It’s been so useful, so adaptable, that its strange history has survived only as a footnote: the coefficient was developed in 1912 by Corrado Gini, an Italian […] Read more »
Public Attitudes Toward the Next Social Contract
The recent deliberations in Washington about the fiscal cliff have triggered a national debate in the United States about the nature, extent and future sustainability of key elements of the U.S. social safety net: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, support for education, the unemployed and the poor. … Rooted in value […] Read more »
A Simple Way to Get Conservatives to Support Higher Taxes on the Rich
It is a fundamental fault line of contemporary American politics: Republicans adamantly oppose higher taxes on the wealthy, while Democrats consider such taxes a moral and fiscal imperative. … But conservative opinion on this issue may be more malleable than anyone realizes. Newly published research suggests that, for those on […] Read more »
With Poverty Comes Depression, More Than Other Illnesses
Americans in poverty are more likely than those who are not to struggle with a wide array of chronic health problems, and depression disproportionately affects those in poverty the most. [cont.] Alyssa Brown, Gallup Read more »
Half of Americans in Poverty Are Politically Independent
Americans who are in poverty are more likely than those who are not in poverty to identify themselves as political independents — 50% vs. 40%. … The majority of Americans in poverty approved of President Barack Obama in 2011, compared with 45% approval among those not in poverty. But those […] Read more »
Is Poverty a Kind of Robbery?
… Underneath the statistics, hidden behind the desolation of the poor in the poorest big city in the United States, lies one of most intractable political dilemmas of our era: Can the Democratic party, the party of the left, address issues of poverty and want in today’s political environment? For […] Read more »