Comments on: Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/10/25/richard-wilkinson-how-economic-inequality-harms-societies/ Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:49:23 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: New York https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/10/25/richard-wilkinson-how-economic-inequality-harms-societies/#comment-17094 Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:49:23 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=1044#comment-17094 Aw man I just wanted to take the time to say I really like reading your blog.

]]> By: Tyrone Dickenson https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/10/25/richard-wilkinson-how-economic-inequality-harms-societies/#comment-17093 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:29:19 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=1044#comment-17093 constantly a huge enthusiast of linking to bloggers which i really like but don’t obtain lots of link adore from.

]]> By: Bryan https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/10/25/richard-wilkinson-how-economic-inequality-harms-societies/#comment-17092 Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:13:48 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=1044#comment-17092 I have original data using the 50 U.S. states as the level of analysis (versus nations across the world). Income inequality (gini coefficients) don’t explain anything in terms of why some states fair better than others. IQ and / or religious fundamentalism completely wipe out the effects of income inequality. Gross income levels themselves are better predictors of well-being than is income inequality. In fact, the percentage of same sex households is a better predictor of state well-being than is income inequality. So too is the ratio of Starbucks to Walmarts within states.

I’m not sure why economists come to such different conclusions in this area. More interdisciplinary research is needed here, imo.

Large correlations at the aggregate level (states or nations) are the exception rather than the rule (so don’t be too impressed by this guy’s pretty scatter plots). It seems like everything correlates non-trivially with everything else (creating a nexus) at aggregate levels. I suspect there is no one causal variable.

If one looks at variance explained after partialing out other variables, income inequality is not the answer (I admit though that controlling variables in regression is less than ideal with these data in terms of getting at causality).

B

]]> By: Jim Baerg https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/10/25/richard-wilkinson-how-economic-inequality-harms-societies/#comment-17091 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:54:54 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=1044#comment-17091 See also the book he co-authored with Kate Pickett
_Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better_

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