Lowest 10% Middle Top 10% Top 1% Annual income ($) Inequality of income.

Lowest 10%Middle

Top 10%

Top 1%

An

nu

al

incom

e (

$)

Inequality of income

1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2011 2012 20130

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

Corrosion 4: Opportunity

The Great Gatsby Curve:More inequality is associated

with less mobility across the generations

Bill English on housing costs:“It’s clear that the lowest-income households have been the most affected so our planning processes have probably done more to increase income inequality in New Zealand than most other policies and it does remain a challenge to make progress.”

John Key on child poverty:“The recognition I think we all have is that there are some extremely poor children who are missing out. And so then the question is, how do you resolve those issues? It’s not straightforward but there will be more you can do.’’

Connections

How are poverty and wealth linked?

Same factors: just think about bargaining power and the labour share

But basically it’s about ideology

Health and well-beingIn

dex o

f h

ealt

h &

socia

l p

rob

lem

s

Income inequality

High inequality is not ‘necessary’,despite the claims

IMF, February 2014: Over the long term,more equal societies have better growth

rates and are more productive

Giving low and middle income families a stronger foundation makes economic sense

So inequality at current levelsis not defensible economically

The Economy

Inequality of wealth%

sh

are

of

NZ

’s t

ota

l n

et

wort

h

Opportunity

The Great Gatsby Curve:More inequality is associated

with less mobility across the generations

Boosting skills: helping schools,trade training, and creating high-wage jobs

But also addressing the ‘fair share’ of rewards issue: Living Wage, collective

bargaining and pay ratios

Redistribution, too: taxes, benefits and the UBI

Don’t forget about wealth (especially housing)

Building shared communities

What can be done?

www.closertogether.org.nz

www.inequality.org.nz

www.equalitynetwork.org.nz

www.closertogether.org.nz

www.inequality.org.nz

www.equalitynetwork.org.nz

In bookstores or at www.bwb.co.nz/books/inequality

The books