What Kind of Inequality Matters to You?
Here are 19 kinds of inequality, courtesy of Scott Sumner:
- Inequality of disability. Some people are blind, paralyzed, etc.
- Inequality of talent. Some people are blessed with the ability of a Michael Jordon, or a Brad Pitt.
- Inequality of liberty. I know one Chinese person who used to listen to Russian classical music very quietly, lest the neighbors overheard. It was viewed as counter-revolutionary, and she could have gotten in a lot of trouble. Lest we think America doesn’t have these problems, think of the many 100,000s of people in prison for using drugs.
- Inequality of money (i.e. income/wealth/consumption.)
- Inequality of personality. I know one part time instructor who always looks happy. He always whistles while he walks, and greets people with enthusiasm. He’s about 85. And I know lots of grouchy professors making 5 times more money.
- Inequality of mental health–actually just a more extreme version of point 5–but a big driver of utility.
- Inequality of access to health care. Often assumed to overlap with money inequality, but the Medicaid program suggests it’s more complex.
- Inequality of power. My Marxist friends would say I have a blind spot for this one. I think I do.
- Inequality of location. Were you born in sad Moldova, or happy Denmark?
- Inequality of luck. Of course if there’s no free will, then it’s all luck.
- Inequality of family situation. Are you living with an extremely difficult family member (an abusive spouse, an elderly person with Alzheimer’s, or a troubled teen.) This has a big effect on utility.
- Inequality of disease. Do you have AIDS, or cancer?
- Inequality of preferences. I am cursed with expensive taste. If I walk into a rug store, my eyes are immediately attracted to the most expensive oriental carpet. My daughter just bought a teal shag carpet from Target that she likes. Lucky her.
- Inequality of pain. A hugely underrated factor in utility. And let’s not forget the poor hypochondriacs. There is no statement more stupid in the entire English language than “it’s all in your head.” Everything is all in your head, including pain. See the studies of phantom limbs. Pain is pain.
- Inequality in social setting. Do you live in a neighborhood terrorized by crime. Again, only partially correlated with income.
- Racial/ethnic/gender/sexual preference inequality
- Inequality of nerdiness/awkwardness. A huge driver of utility for teenagers. (Would a poor but “cool” and popular teen trade places with a middle class nerdy teen?)
- Inequality of job desirability
- Inequality of appearance (beauty, obesity, etc.) Michel Houellebecq says this is the greatest source of inequality in rich countries
Of these 19, how many do you think economists ever talk about? How about health policy wonks? Is that because economists and health policy wonks are incredibly narrow? Full Scott Sumner piece is worth reading every word.
All things being equal, the human race is better off with the infinite variety created by these 19 inequalities.
The fact that inequity varies so widely makes it foolish to discuss two narrow aspects of inequity (income and health) as much as we do.
Humans vary in ability in so many ways — which is the source of our diversity and inequity. I don’t necessarily agree there are exactly 19 ways people are unequal; but I’m not sure what the actual number would be. Beauty, personality, happiness, mental health, intelligence, pain, disease, disability, talent, intelligence and social skills all relate to the body our parents created. Talent and intelligence can impact wealth, which can impact where you live, your job and whether you like your job. Inequity in health care is a function of income and preferences (i.e. do you seek employment with benefits or take a job that pays higher cash wages). Whether you like oriental rugs or Ferraris is a function of personality, tastes and if you have sufficient income to indulge these whims. Does an oriental rug have more utility than a synthetic shag rug? Tastes and preferences motivate the desire for an oriental rug.
It is interesting how society takes areas of inequity and decides which ones to mitigate. Medicaid, Medicare, close parking spots for handicapped individuals… There are all examples of selectively addressing inequities. Philosophers, sociologists and ethicists write volumes about which of these inequities society should address. But who’s to say whether they really have chosen the appropriate inequities.
Economists are very narrow. Health policy wonks are even more narrow.
I don’t think we should be concerned at all about inequality.
What matters is mobility. As long as you have the opportunity available to you to change your situation, society has met its obligation to you.
There will always be inequality because you can’t legislate or social engineer away poor life choices.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.
Economists focus only on income because they are very materialistic. Health poicy wonks focus only on health becasue they are very narrow.
We know from our behavior in the US that we are less concerned with income inequality than the Occupy Wall Streeters and their media enablers hold.
Undergraduate economics students are introduced to two effects: Income and substitution. With respect to labor, if real wages increase, the income effect drives us to work less. However, the substitution effect causes us to work more, because more real wages are lost for each hour of leisure. There is no theoretical solution to which of these competing effects dominates.
It is obvious from history that the income effect generally swamps the substitution effect. We work less than ever, and use our leisure time to “occupy wall street” to complain that we don’t earn enough!
Leftists have a ton of work to do to fix 😉
Americans Against Personalty Deficits (AAPD)
Americans Working Against Random Outcomes (AWARC)
Society of Equitable Locality Advancement (SELA)
99% of Americans Against Pain (9AAA)
Dis-functional Family Equality Association (DFEA)
Gosh, I wish all economists were narrow. Maybe then I wouldn’t have to worry about either losing a few pounds or causing a solar eclipse.
I envy a poor man with a great hot wife.
#3 Inequality of Liberty is the most important on that list and will be a source of serious and perhaps violent conflict in the coming decades.
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