Opposition leader Bill Shorten told Q&A viewers that Australia is the most unequal it has been in 75 years. Is that statement supported by the research?
Inequality remains one of South Africa’s major problems. Thomas Piketty’s visit to the country provides an opportunity to explore ways to deal with this problem.
Larisa Hussak, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
It’s human nature to assume there must be a valid reason for inequalities in society. What’s the psychology behind why we believe there’s something fundamentally different between haves and have-nots?
A review of South Africa’s methodology to measure poverty shows that 60% of people in the country are poor. This is way higher than the figures that are usually quoted.
One in five workers in South Africa is poor. The plight of the working poor has wide implications. Employers have a responsibility to ensure a minimum level of decent wages.
The South African government should weigh its decision carefully whether to increase value added tax (VAT) as indirect taxes fall most heavily on the poor and the middle class.
Rather than hold on to the idea of equality of opportunity, it might be more accurate to say that we don’t really support it because it comes at too high a price.
One reason for widening inequality is the decline of unions, which in turn is partly the result of the gradual elimination of the “working class” from our vocabulary.
One of the great issues of our day is inequality. Whether it is the Greek debt crisis, anxieties about Sydney real estate prices, the continuing resonance of “Occupy” and cries about the “1%”, or the publishing…
Evidence on the ability, or lack thereof, of children to rise above the economic status of their parents shines light on the continued persistence of inequality, including in South Africa.