What can you and I do to reduce income inequality

Bibliographic Data

ID10142435
AuthorsG Jasso (0000-0002-7416-2358, New York University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume42
Issue4
Pages186-204
Publication date2018-08-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Mathematical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-250X • E-ISSN: 1545-5874
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0022250x.2017.1343826
OpenAlexW2887895910
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited21

Are there things that ordinary people can do in their private lives to reduce economic inequality? And, if so, how would these things work? To be sure, there are macro societal mechanisms for reducing inequality. But are there micro mechanisms for reducing inequality? This article first examines inequality measures and behavioral models that produce inequality effects, identifying five sets of inequality mechanisms which lead to levers that ordinary people can use to reduce income inequality, and next discusses the levers, with special attention to their feasibility, ease of use, and side effects. The five levers highlight transfers, equal additions, negative assortative mating, wage schedules that reward multiple personal characteristics, and compensation procedures with voting rules, many voters, diversity of thought, and secret ballots. This work raises new questions for research, such as the sources of diversity of thought

Assortative mating · Compensation (psychology · Diversity (politics · Economic inequality · Economics · Inequality · Public economics · Social inequality · Sociology · Work (physics · Economic Theory and Institutions · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Psychology · Social Psychology

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