Income distribution

Spreading the wealth

Oct 21st 2008
From Economist.com

Where the gap between rich and poor is the greatest

ANY mention of redistribution of wealth in America would normally scupper a politician's ambitions, but Barack Obama has managed to preserve his lead in the polls while also saying that he wants to “spread the wealth around”. And there is a lot of spreading potential: income distribution in America is the widest of the 30 countries of the OECD. The top 10% (or decile) of earners have an average $87,257 of disposable income, while those in the bottom decile have $5,819, among the very lowest of any country. Britain, Canada and Luxembourg also see big differences between the richest and poorest.

Shutterstock