Exam 20: Income Inequality and Poverty

Utilitarians believe that the proper goal of the government is to maximize the sum of the utilities of everyone in society.

The political philosophy that views the redistribution of income as a form of social insurance is

Poor families are eligible for financial assistance, without having to demonstrate any additional "need,"

Which of the following programs to alleviate poverty would be most favored by philosopher Robert Nozick and why?

The study by economists Cox and Alm found that the 2006 pre-tax income of the richest fifth of U.S. households is

Aniella believes that the demand for unskilled labor is relatively inelastic. Carmella believes that the demand for unskilled labor is relatively elastic. Which is an advocate of minimum-wage laws?

Based on data from 2011, the top fifth of all families received approximately what percent of all income in the United States?

A common criticism of government programs that are designed to assist the poor is that

Despite continued growth in average income since the early 1970s, the poverty rate has not declined below the level reached in 1973.

Economic mobility in the United States is

Table 20-10 *A Gini coefficient is a commonly used measure of income inequality, with values between 0 and 1 (0 corresponds to perfect equality whereby everyone has exactly the same income, and 1 corresponds to perfect inequality where one person has all the income, while everyone else has zero income). Source: The World Bank -Refer to Table 20-10. Which country has the most unequal income distribution?

Table 20-14 Income Inequality in the United States The values in the table reflect the percentages of pre-tax-and transfer income. Source: US Census Bureau -Refer to Table 20-14. The trend in income inequality from 1980 to 2010 is .

In-kind transfers are politically popular because

Which of the following is not a question that economists try to answer when measuring the distribution of income?

If the U.S. government determines that the cost of feeding an urban family of four is $5,200 per year, then the official poverty line for a family of that type is

Liberalism suggests that public policies should aim to

The life-cycle pattern of income variation causes inequality in the distribution of annual income, but it does not necessarily represent .

Of the following groups, which group is most likely to live in poverty - children, elderly, married-couple families, female household with no spouse present?

Scenario 20-3 Suppose that a society is made up of five families whose incomes are as follows: $120,000; $90,000; $30,000; $30,000; and $18,000. The federal government is considering two potential income tax plans: Plan A is a negative income tax plan where the taxes owed equal 1/3 of income minus $20,000. Plan B is a two-tiered plan where families earning less than $35,000 pay no income tax and families earning more than $35,000 pay 10% of their income in taxes. The income tax revenue collected from those families earning over $35,000 is then redistributed equally to those families earning less than $35,000. -Refer to Scenario 20-3. Assuming that utility is directly proportional to the cash value of after-tax income, which government policy would an advocate of libertarianism prefer?

There is very little economic mobility in the United States, which means that once a family is poor, it is very likely to remain poor for at least a decade.