Period 4
Economics
Wealth and Poverty
(social welfare)
Alex Yang
Eric Hsieh
What are we talking about?
(Definitions)
Wealth: how much a person has (usually in terms of money)
Poverty:
- poverty line: those below it cannot afford basic
necessities
Absolute poverty: one world, one poverty line
Relative poverty: many societies, many lines
What’s that have to do with anything?
(Poverty in the UK)
- 13 Million people
- 4 Million children
UK attitude:
‘laziness and lack of will-power’
Distribution of Wealth in the UK
(reality is cruel, indeed)
Statistics:
-no drastic change over time but the rich got
richer
Percentage of Wealth Owned Over Time
30
25
20
Top 1%
15
Top 2%
10
5
0
19
76
19
79
19
82
19
85
19
88
19
91
19
94
19
97
20
00
Percentage of Wealth
Owned
35
Recorded Years
Distribution of Wealth in the UK
(how things add up in modern terms)
Statistics:
-poorest HALF share only 6% of national wealth
Percentage of Wealth Owned By Percentage
of Population
Top Percent of
Population
50
94
25
74
10
56
5
43
2
30
1
23
0
20
40
60
Percentage of UK Wealth
80
100
Gini Coefficient and the Lorenz Curve
(if you have no idea what they are, don’t worry,
you’re supposed to feel that way)
Max O. Lorenz
Lorenz Curve
(clashing of ideal world and real world)
Lorenz Curve Based on 2002 Data
(two very different worlds)
120
100
80
Percentage of UK
Wealth
60
Ideal Percentage
of Wealth
40
20
0
0
50
100
150
Gini Index
(no, not the kind that grants wishes)
UK Gini Coefficient By Year
72
68
66
Gini Coefficient
64
62
Year
2000
1997
1994
1991
1988
1985
1982
1979
60
1976
Coefficient
70
UK Steps Against Poverty
(the arduous struggle)
Blair: commitment to ending child poverty
in a generation
- number of people living in poverty declining
in recent years
Main necessity: public support
- changing the “poverty is due to laziness”
mentality
Pounds
Image credits
Lorenz curve example: Penn State University:
http://450.aers.psu.edu/images/lorenz.gif
Cartoon pound sign: CartoonStock:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/cfr0021l.jpg
Corrado Gini: University of York:
http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/people/gini.gif
Pound note: Guardian International Currency Corp:
http://www.guardianfx.com/information/europe/england.ht
ml
UK Map: British Towns and Villages Network:
http://www.british-towns.net/britain/uk_physical_map.htm
Works Cited
Distribution of Personal Wealth. HM Revenue and Customs. 2 Dec 2005.
<http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal_wealth/menu.htm>
Gini Coefficient. 26 Nov 2005. Wikipedia 2 Dec 2005.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient>
Lorenz Curve. 1 Dec 2005. Wikipedia. 2 Dec 2005.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenz_curve>
Lorenz Curves. 4 April 2004. Duncan Williamson. 2 Dec 2005.
<http://www.duncanwil.co.uk/lorenz1.html>
Poverty Line. 29 Nov 2005. Wikipedia. 2 Dec 2005.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_line>
The Facts About Poverty in the UK. Oxfam UK Poverty Programme. 2
Dec 2005.
<http://www.oxfamgb.org/ukpp/poverty/thefacts.htm>