Income Inequality? An Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Income Data From 1967 to 2019
In the last few decades, the U.S. economy transformed from preindustrial colonies mainly dealing in subsistence farming, to mercantilist merchants competing in the trade of basic commodities, to corporations with massive production capacity able to produce goods for a global market. Take Apple, for example; their gross profit margin — the ratio between revenue and the costs incurred in producing products and services – for 2021 was 29.78%. Over the years Apple has become more effective in generating great revenue from smaller costs; Yet we do not see this increase in scale of production reflected in the income of the average person, such as those that are producing these goods and services.
In this project, I analyze income data from U.S. Census Bureau to see if there is income inequality between income groups; that is, to see if there is a difference in the relative change of income for income groups over the years. At first sight, the implications of income inequality may appear only moral, on the contrary, they are far more encompassing. Income inequality is associated societal problems such as child mortality, and political instability. Having stated these implications which are detrimental to society, I offer two remedies.