What would a "fair" distribution of wealth look like?

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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Séamus Coffey has made the point that even in a very equal society, the distribution of wealth would be unequal as older people should have more wealth than younger people.

Rory O'Farrell who used to be with the Nevin Institute did an interesting exercise. He asked what would the distribution be if everyone had the same salary and if everyone saved the same amount each year.

He admits to being surprised by the results.

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I am used to seeing economists twist and contort the data to suit their arguments, so it's great to see someone actually publishing their results when it is completely at variance with their ideology. Fair play to him.

An ‘ideal’ wealth distribution and the life-cycle

Brendan
 
I think Thomas Sowell has previously noted that most of the income inequalities in the USA by racial group (e.g. White, Jewish, Asian, Hispanic, African-American) can be accounted for by their demographic profile.

Some very interesting stats above, they don't consider inheritance... which as noted by Steven Pinker complicates matters even further:
"Parental love causes the fundamental paradox of politics: no society can be simultaneously fair, free and equal. If it is fair, people who work harder will accumulate more. If it is free, people will give their wealth to their children. But then it cannot be equal, for some people will inherit wealth they did not earn. Ever since Plato called attention to these tradeoffs in 'The Republic', most political ideologies can be defined by the stance they take on which of these ideals should yield."
 
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