Earlier this month, in the opinion pages of the New York Times, David Brooks and Paul Krugman published articles detailing the foundation of income inequality in the United States.  According to the 2010 Annual Social and Economic Supplement from the U.S. Census Bureau, income inequality in the past four decades, as measured by the Gini Coefficient, has grown 18.1% from a value of 0.397 in 1967 to 0.469 in 2010.  The ratio of household income in the 90th percentile to that in the 10th percentile has grown from a low of 8.6 in 1974 to 11.7 in 2010.

In his article, Brooks highlights both the growing inequalities between the top 1% of earners and the rest of the population as well as the inequalities between those with a college degree and those without.  He concludes that the latter is the more influential of the two, pointing towards trends that show college graduates becoming more likely to get married and less likely to divorce as well as being more likely to have children out of wedlock, become obese or exhibit unhealthy behaviors such as smoking.  National survey data support the notion that wealth has grown more robustly for those with a college education.  According to the Federal Reserve Board’s 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances, real median net wealth among families with college graduates as the head of the household increased by close to 60% from 1989 to 2007.  Families where the householder was a high school graduate with no college education increased by 36% while households without a high school graduate decreased by 14%.

In his own article, Krugman makes the case that the growing divergence between the top 1% of earners and the rest of the population is the more meaningful metric of income inequality.  Citing evidence from the Congressional Budget Office, he highlights how growth among the top quintile of earners since the late 70’s has predominantly come from the top 1% of earners.  He goes on to show how growth in the top 1% during the same time period has been driven by growth in the top 0.1% of earners.

Income inequality impacts areas of well-being beyond measures of wealth.  In an article published in the American Journal of Public Health in August, Galea et al estimated that in 2000, income inequality was attributable to 119,000 deaths and low educational attainment was attributable to 245,000 deaths.  These social factors are highly interrelated and therefore deaths attributed to each may not be mutually exclusive.  In early December, the VCU Center on Human Needs will release the first addition of its “Living In America” series focusing on disparities in well being experienced by groups with varying educational attainment.