Inequality: Is America Becoming a Two-Tiered Society?

Professor of Economics, James Bradford DeLong at University of California Berkley and Nicholas Gregory Mankiw, the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University shares their alternative readings and reactions to the recent top selling book, "Capital in the Twenty-first Century" by Thomas Piketty. Is income inequality on the rise? What does the evidence say? How significantly does income inequality shape human welfare? Does economic growth help the poor?

October 17, 2016

Brown University

[TheHunterGracchus]

Wow! I can't believe that Greg Mankiw's conclusion is that if you're an American living at the poverty line, you should shut up and be grateful for what you have.

[StephanBaish]

1:17:00 the guy's question was the same that i had during the presentation - are they even including capital gains taxes?!? i don't think so, those figures don't add up, not even close. (Also sales tax is probably left out too)

[samshields]

1:02:12 - It would seem kinda reductive or maybe a result of economic thought, but making the comparisons between Occupy Wallstreet and Occupy Hollywood along the lines of what they produce kind of overlooks the the concentration of wealth each group has.

[MichaelFlynn]

the second speaker is wrong about the import export swap based on the level of product sophistication...he is living in the past.

[nthperson]

Professor Beren describes the effect of a combination of advantage associated with talent and abilities as well as educational attainment. The result is that some individuals will obtain incomes far greater than the average income even for those whose capabilities are very close to one another. What is certainly true is that the incomes received at the very high levels have virtually no influence on the standard of well-being of the recipients. What is also true is much of the income received at the very high levels is unearned, is rent-derived -- from passive investment or from speculation. Our tax system would be much fairer if we combined tax simplification with progressivity that captures rent (even at the risk that some earned income is also captured. What might this look like?

The starting point would be to exempt all individual incomes up to some level (e.g., the national median). All other deductions and exemptions would be eliminated. Then, above this level, higher rates of taxation would be imposed on higher rates of income. The rates and ranges could be determined during the budget process in order to raise sufficient revenue to balance the budget (recognizing there are other sources of public revenue to be drawn on). Thus, the end result at the very top might be a 90% tax rate on incomes above $100 million.