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tutor2uâ„¢
 
Supporting Teachers: Inspiring Students
Economics Revision Focus: 2004
 A2 Economics
Poverty, Inequality and GovernmentIntervention
tutor2u™(www.tutor2u.net)is the leading free online resource for Economics, BusinessStudies, ICT and Politics.Don’t forget to visit ourdiscussion boardstoo as part of your Economics revision.
 
 
tutor2uâ„¢
Supporting Teachers: Inspiring Students
 Page 2 of 8Poverty, Inequality and GovernmentIntervention
www.tutor2u.net: The Home of Economics on the Internet
Revision Focus on Poverty, Inequality and Government Intervention
A2 Syllabus Requirements:
 Knowledge of the distribution of household income and wealth in the United Kingdom is expected. Thevarious factors which influence the distribution of income and wealth should be understood.Candidates should understand the difference between
equity
and
equality
. They should recognise thatpeople hold different views concerning what is fair and that these views will influence policyprescriptions. They should be able to distinguish between
horizontal
and
vertical equity
.Candidates should understand the difference between
relative
and
absolute poverty
.Knowledge of the
policies which are available to influence the distribution of income and wealth
isrequired. Candidates should be able to discuss the economic consequences of such policies and be able to
evaluate the various approaches to alleviating poverty
.
Key facts about the distribution of income and wealth
 
in the UK
 
Income
is a flow of factor incomes to households such as wages and earnings from work; rent from theownership of land and interest & dividends from savings and the ownership of shares
Wealth
is a stock of financial and real assets such as property, savings in bank and building societyaccounts, ownership of land and rights to private pensions, equities, bonds etcWe measure the distribution of income and wealth by using concepts such as the
Lorenz Curve
and the
Gini Coefficient
.The further the Lorenz curve lies below theline of equality, the more unequal is thedistribution of income. There are problemswith the Lorenz curve – particular if weare inaccurate in our measure of incomesacross the distribution of households in acountryThe Gini Coefficient is derived from thesame information used to create a LorenzCurve.The Gini Coefficient can take values from0 to 100 per cent where a value of zerowould indicate that each household hadan equal share of income, while highervalues indicate greater inequality.The chart on the next page shows the trend in the Gini Coefficient for original and disposable incomes ofUK households since the late 1970s. Inequality of disposable income was fairly stable in the first half ofthe 1980s then increased during the second half of the 1980s. Inequality was relatively flat in the 1990s
THE LORENZ CURVE
 %  of  i  n c o m e c u m ul   a t  i  v e
Distribution of households0%100%50%Poorest20%Middle20%Richest20%Line of perfect equality
 
tutor2uâ„¢
Supporting Teachers: Inspiring Students
 Page 3 of 8Poverty, Inequality and GovernmentIntervention
www.tutor2u.net: The Home of Economics on the Internet
but with some indications of a slight fall in the first half of the 1990s and a slight rise since then. In 2001-02, the Gini coefficient was back to its 1990 level.Inequality of original income (before taking account of taxes and benefits) has followed a differentpattern. It rose fairly steadily throughout the 1980s and has been relatively stable since then. The GiniCoefficient for disposable income is lower than for original income because of the equalising effects ofour progressive tax and benefits system.The distribution of wealth is more unequal than the distribution of income. This is shown in the chart below.In 2001, over 90% of marketable wealth was in the hands of just half the population and over a fifth ofwealth was highly concentrated among the richest one per cent of households.
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