U.S. economic inequality increases to pre-Great-Depression levels.

Fiona Sydney

2019-02-17 14:40:00 Sun ET

U.S. economic inequality increases to pre-Great-Depression levels. U.C. Berkeley economics professor Gabriel Zucman empirically finds that the top 0.1% richest adults own about 25% of total household wealth in America (in accordance with a similar economic inequality situation back in the 1920s).

When we broaden the core definition of the upper socioeconomic echelon, the top 1% richest households own 40% of national wealth as of 2016. This high wealth share compares with the 25%-30% thresholds back in the 1980s. Over the past 30 years, the bottom 90% household wealth share has significantly declined in similar proportions. Russia is the only comparable country with similar wealth inequality. The current Zucman empirical study resonates with the main themes of persistent global economic inequality in the recent book, Capital in the new century, written by Thomas Piketty. The root causes of U.S. income and wealth inequality include information technology adoption, elite education, high-skill human capital shortage, and talent concentration.

The government can design affordable college and graduate school education for young adults to better prepare for their vocational pursuits. Ubiquitous information technology adoption allows fresh talents to better appreciate the knowledge-driven productivity gains from robotic automation, artificial intelligence, and smart data analysis etc.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

U.S. inflation has become sustainably less than the 2% policy target in recent years.

Jonah Whanau

2019-08-03 09:28:00 Saturday ET

U.S. inflation has become sustainably less than the 2% policy target in recent years.

U.S. inflation has become sustainably less than the 2% policy target in recent years. As Harvard macro economist Robert Barro indicates, U.S. inflation has

+See More

Chicago finance professor Raghuram Rajan suggests that free markets need populist support against an unholy alliance of private-sector and state elites.

John Fourier

2019-05-21 12:37:00 Tuesday ET

Chicago finance professor Raghuram Rajan suggests that free markets need populist support against an unholy alliance of private-sector and state elites.

Chicago finance professor Raghuram Rajan shows that free markets need populist support against an unholy alliance of private-sector and state elites. When a

+See More

Artificial intelligence, 5G, and virtual reality can help transform global trade, finance, and technology.

Peter Prince

2021-05-20 10:30:00 Thursday ET

Artificial intelligence, 5G, and virtual reality can help transform global trade, finance, and technology.

Artificial intelligence, 5G, and virtual reality can help transform global trade, finance, and technology. Core trade technological advances and disruptive

+See More

Mark Zuckerberg develops Facebook as a social network platform to help empower global connections among family and friends.

Amy Hamilton

2020-02-12 09:31:00 Wednesday ET

Mark Zuckerberg develops Facebook as a social network platform to help empower global connections among family and friends.

Mark Zuckerberg develops Facebook as a social network platform to help empower global connections among family and friends. David Kirkpatrick (2011) T

+See More

From crony capitalism to state capitalism, what economic policy lessons can we learn from Putin's reign in Russia?

Jonah Whanau

2018-03-13 07:34:00 Tuesday ET

From crony capitalism to state capitalism, what economic policy lessons can we learn from Putin's reign in Russia?

From crony capitalism to state capitalism, what economic policy lessons can we learn from President Putin's current reign in Russia? In the 15 years of

+See More

Dr Karl Ulrich explains that many elite universities now provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) for lifelong learners to achieve their medium-term goals for better intellectual focus, immersion, personal growth, and self-improvement.

Charlene Vos

2025-08-09 11:31:00 Saturday ET

Dr Karl Ulrich explains that many elite universities now provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) for lifelong learners to achieve their medium-term goals for better intellectual focus, immersion, personal growth, and self-improvement.

Wharton e-commerce entrepreneurship professor Dr Karl Ulrich explains that many top-notch universities now provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) for m

+See More