Prof. Antony Davies: 5 Myths About Inequality

If you really want to understand how the world works today, you need to rethink almost everything you’ve been told about inequality. Prof. Antony Davies explains.

LEARN MORE:
Debate: Is There Too Much Inequality in America? (video): Prof. Steve Horwitz and Prof. Jeffrey Reiman debate the topic of inequality in America.
Income Inequality or Income Mobility: For What Should We Fight? (blog article): Anne Bradley explains why it’s better to place our focus on income mobility than on income equality.
Income Inequality and the Effects of Globalization (video): Prof. Tyler Cowen describes the amazing reductions in global income inequality that have occurred over the last 20 years.

TRANSCRIPT:

LEARN LIBERTY:

[TheRealStevenBritton]

Reading through some of the comments and replies, I see two groups of people: those who understand the principle of adding value to create wealth, and those who think the world owes them a living.

[JeffreyKnipe]

My new favorite quote ... "Equality does not mean we are all happy, we can all be equally unhappy together."

[cw]

Wow, after Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell, Prof. Davies is perhaps the clearest explainer of the social implications of economic principles I've come across in my life. Very engaging presentation style. He has certainly gained a subscriber in me.

[TheFKLife]

This lecture should be mandatory for high school seniors - bless you

[teddorosheff]

"The evening news has become a litany of all the things that aren't true about your life."

[erine.]

This needs to be taught in every single school in the globe

[KH]

This shouldn't be taught in college...




This should be a mandatory high school course.

[SeatBill]

How can almost 3, 000 people click thumbs down on this? It's clear, it's logical, and it reflects reality; in the workplace, in interactions between people, companies, and governments! How much simpler does it have to be? As far as I'm concerned, this video should be MANDATORY VIEWING for EVERY INCOMING FRESHMAN TO COLLEGE IN AMERICA!

[uke]

My mom would tell me and my siblings, "it's not equal, but it's fair"

I loved this video, it factually uplifted me.

[stevenjohnsrud]

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.  Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a life time.  But if the man wont eat fish you are wasting your time and effort.  The truth is like that too.

[stp]

Equality of opportunity, not outcome, every country that tried the latter has been destroyed.

[clydedenby]

No TedTalk video has ever provided such a valuable and logically-sound message. Bravo-Zulu!

[theevermind]

Equality: build a taller fence and make them buy a ticket like everyone else.

[AgentExeider]

What this graph also points out is that the 2008 crash, for the lowest parts of the economy set people back 20 years, notice the bar for 2010 in the lowest 3 categories is the same as the the 1990 bar.

[nhguged]

This is what an actual good teacher looks like. So interesting that you watch him in your free time. Everybody talks about how hard teachers have it and how they're heroes and on and on, but so few of them are actually any good. Good job.

[Randgalf]

Aha! So we're getting fewer freezers over time. I knew that the we were spiralling down!

[DoodlyDoo]

#1 0:10 Profit = Plunder
#2 5:18 Equality
#3 7:00 We Understand
#4 11:15 Middle Class
#5 13:50 Worse Off

[reecedoyleguitar]

Equality: The short kid accepts that he's short and brings two boxes without demanding the tall kids yet, they reimburse the baseball team for the entertainment value they're providing by purchasing a

[darkmage]

On wondering why fewer households have freezers, it struck me: freezers are for storing foodstuffs long-term, as well as frozen "quick meals" full of preservatives (i.e. frozen TV dinners). The latter is being replaced by dining out and a desire to avoid preservatives for healthy eating, both of which are more expensive. The former is only useful as a cost saving measure in the event of famine where you fear you can't get the food you need affordably; if you believe you can, you don't really need a freezer.

So interestingly, the decrease in freezer ownership may be a further indication of increased prosperity, same as the other metrics. You'd want actual surveys of households to confirm this, of course, but it's a theory that may be worth studying further.

[aladdinelafifi]

Bull shit! Let's talk about having a PhD but not even owning a home or even having $500 to your name. Conclusion, the world is much worse today because of people like you. Take that to your bank.