Week 2: Inequality Flashcards
What is absolute poverty?
- insufficient access to resources to support minimum standard of life (nutritious food, shelter, education, health)
- survival threatened
What is relative poverty?
- insufficient income/wealth to enjoy standard of life assumed by majority of population
- relative/linked to country’s standard of income
- excluded from society
examples of equality?
- equal opportunities to achieve desirable goals
- equal conditions of life (can be assisted by legislation)
- equality of outcomes as a result
what is inequality?
the factors of equality are not the same for some individuals and groups as they are for others
what is used to measure inequality?
gini coefficient (summary method of inequality used internationally)
what does the gini coefficient measure?
- statistical dispersion representing the income distribution of a nation’s residents (gap between rich and poor)
gini coefficient of 0 =
gini coefficient of 1 =
0 = perfect equality 1 = maximal inequality
what is the micro level in a country’s economic performance?
- health costs, poor education (and opportunities)
what is the macro level in a country’s economic performance?
affects (brake on) growth and can lead to instability
what are the three key approaches of disadvantage?
- deprivation, capability, social exclusion
why doesn’t low income necessarily establish disadvantage?
-those who have wealth (retired people may have low income but accumulated wealth)
why is ignoring wealth an issue of measuring income inequality?
- by ignoring wealth, it can overstate or understate distribution of consumption
____ is far more unequally distributed than ____
- wealth
2. income
where does Australia sit in the OECD - gini coefficient
14th most unequal of the 34 OECD members
- slightly higher than OECD average
