Why Has Income Inequality Been Rising Since The 1970s Essay Sample

While the second proposition closely relates to the arguments advanced by Autor, the first proposition looks at the issues from a basic perspective and barely touches the issues addressed by Autor. Autor argues that one of the causes of rising inequality is the rising skills premium. More precisely, the dispersion of income is the result of an increased premium that is related to postsecondary education. Autor also advances the fact that the dynamics of supply and demand in the labor market have resulted in an ever widening gap between the earnings of people with secondary and postsecondary education as another reason for the rising inequality. Another reason advanced is the decrease in the employment opportunities for non-college students in clerical, production and administrative positions, increase in international competition, reduction in membership and waning bargaining power of labor unions and the numerous reductions in the marginal tax rates for the top earners (Autor 843).
Of the two propositions, the second relates closely to the reasons advanced by Autor. The second proposition decries the effect of policy decisions that favor the top earners in the economy. Such policies have led to financial deregulation, and tax cuts for the top one percent at the detriment of the remaining ninety nine percent. Additionally, the solutions underscored under the second proposition relate to those proposed by Autor. These include fair tax policies, revision of the minimum wage and cheaper funding for college students from low social economic settings (Autor 843). The first proposition could not be further from the truth when it is vetted against the arguments advanced by Autor. Even if people worked hard, they are still highly taxed by the government while the top earners enjoy favorable tax regimes. The argument in the first proposition explains why some people might not have an income, but not the raging disparities in income (Gornick & Markus 210).

Works cited

Autor, David. Skills, education, and the rise of earnings inequality among the other 99 percent. Science Magazine. 344. 6186 (2014): 843-851.
Gornick, Janet, and Markus Jäntti. Income Inequality: Economic Disparities and the Middle Class in Affluent Countries. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2013. Print