John Bates Clark Medal

Whether it is between men and women or different races, we live in a world where inequality exists in every corner. The type of inequality I will be focusing on is not between the sexes or races, but between the rich and the poor. As Plutarch once said, “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” Between the two essays, they provide many similarities and differences in opinion regarding the importance of economic inequality, the access of education to all Americans, the role of education in economic inequality, and the importance of the breakdown of the American family in economic inequality. Depending on whether you ask Paul Krugman or Gary S. Becker and Keven M. Murphy why we should care about economic inequality, you will get a very different answer. “The lion’s share of economic growth in America over the past thirty years has gone to a small, wealthy minority, to such an extent it’s unclear whether the typical family has benefitted at all from technological progress and the rising productivity it brings” (Krugman 561). Paul Krugman says this to backup his previous statement that one reason to care about inequality is because of the “matter of living standards” (Krugman 561). Paul Krugman is very adamant about economic inequality hurting the entire lower and middle-class. As Krugman states in his piece, Confronting Inequality, “the lack of clear economic inequality is so high, it actually has very negative consequences for…

Stiglitz is about to argue; however, one must actually open the book in order to understand how America is spiraling into economic disaster because of economic inequality. He claims that if we, as a country, do not repair the serious inequality in income and financial positions, then this country will be financially ruined by “undermining [its] growth and impairing [its] efficiency” (Stiglitz, 6). Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist who currently works at Columbia University as a…

is one of the most significant American economist. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1912 Friedman was a revolutionary man with many different positions hold during his life, such as university teacher, journal writer, and research economist. He was a non-stop person who loved his career, and even more to cooperate to the world economy with his reviews and strong believes about the economic systems and government interventions. He was a strongly believer of non-government intervention on economic…

that the government can not push an economy in a specific direction only the law of supply and demand can steer and economy, also known as the economic calculation problem. Hayek was a strong a opinionated economist that contributed many theories and ideas to multiple nations, helping to create the current economic system we have today. Milton Friedman was born July 31, 1912 in Brooklyn New York to a poor family of immigrants. After getting a good education from multiple well known…

In addition to being an Economics professor at the University of Chicago, Levitt has been awarded the John Bates Clark medal and holds the title of the most influential economist at forty. Dubner comes from a journalism background and has been a writer for the New York Times. Due to extensive knowledge and experience in their respective fields, they are very clear about the ideas they want to put forth. They use strong diction, ask intelligent questions and use specific and relevant examples to…

1978 to 42 million in 1998” (Becker & Murphy). Income inequality is seen as a negative thing, but the authors illuminate the merit of the Chinese. The ones who are able to bring any reform are the ones of higher political standing requiring extensive education. The politicians are indeed the ones making enormous figures, but the power to change is within their boundary. The China comparison is substantial in the fact that even though the U.S is indeed regarded more highly in terms of power than…

Board of Directors of the Economists Allied for Arms Reduction. As I stated before, Bergmann is a published author/co-author of several books, “The Economic Emergence of Women”, “Saving Our Children from Poverty”, “In Defense of Affirmative Action”, and “Is Social Security Broke?: A Cartooon Guide to the Issues”. Besides being an author/co-author, she was a senior staff economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers in 1961 and 1962 for John F. Kennedy’s presidential…