1. Income Inequality Developments in the Great Recession
- Author:
- Tomas Hellebrandt
- Publication Date:
- 01-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- The Great Recession, which cost tens of millions of jobs, a collapse of asset values around the world, and threatened the global financial system, has generated renewed concern over the long-standing issue of the fairness of the distribution of wealth and income in many societies. Economic inequality has increased in the United States and many other advanced economies over the past 20 to 30 years. This trend generated less worry in the boom years, when unemployment rates were low and cheap credit enabled consumers to borrow and maintain higher standards of living, masking the impact of growing income disparity on consumption patterns and perceptions of well-being.
- Topic:
- Debt, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Poverty, Social Stratification, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Ireland