Anatomy of Income and Wealth Inequality in the United States

Much has been written recently about the current income and wealth gaps in the U.S. and the causes proffered. They are: how U.S. elections are financed; offshoring of well-paid jobs; excessive executive salaries; decrease in private-sector unionization; inadequate education of the U.S. workforce; and the outsize return on capital. The authors assume that these are merely the visible manifestations of a larger underlying cause — "The Iron Law of Oligarchy." They identify the oligarchs, describe how they rule and the consequences, and propose ways to ameliorate the consequences

Analysis of the Increasing Income Gap between the Rich and Everyone Else

The growing disparity in income between the rich and middle/lower income groups has resulted in significant skewness in the distribution of wealth in the U.S. The short and tall of it is that the real incomes of the top .01 percent of Americans rose seven fold between 1980 and 2007, but the real income of the median family rose only 22 percent, less than a third of its growth over the previous 27 years. Two main reasons given by economists are technological innovation and inadequate technical education in the U.S. However, there are several other factors that are relevant. This paper analyzes the other issues: 1) the funding of federal political campaigns, 2) the effects of offshoring, 3) the role of the U.S. tax code, and 4) the absence of a strong connection between performance and rewards that may be related to the recent shift in wealth. While wage differences naturally occur in a capitalistic system, massive differences provoke social unrest and the rise of demigods advocating collectivist solutions

Alternative Models for forecasting U.S. Exports

Traditionally, models of U.S. exports tend to emphasize relationships involving independent variables that measure demand in importing countries, domestic (U.S.) demand or the level of business activity, direct foreign investment, U.S. grants and loans, etc. This paper compares several of these traditional forecasting methods are compared with a number of time-series techniques. The results indicate that U.S. exports can be forecasted with the use of several alternative models.© 1978 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (1978) 9, 73–84