CANS 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Infant Mortality, Ice Cream, Positional Good

• School: McGill University
• Department: Canadian Studies
• Course: CANS 200
• Professor: Marie Anne

Document Summary

Guest speaker: william watson (mcgill department of economics) Speaking on his book the inequality trap . Societies in the west are moving to greater wealth. Inequality is rising in western countries: gini coefficient: indicates income before taxes and transfers, is a marker of inequality. 3 kinds of inequality: good, bad, benign: us average net worth 2010: k, net worth: at this moment, how much you have in the bank, down because of the housing crash, stock market crash of 2008. In 2011, steve jobs had billion, sydney crosby makes m/year, jamie diamond income up to m. Is this bad: bernie maydoff: fraudster and former stockbroker increased inequality, some guy winning the lottery increases inequality. Depends on how you come about it: steve jobs created a lot of modern conveniences; he created a lot of good in society despite having increased inequality, have to look at it on the case by case.