Undergraduate Journal of Global Citizenship
Article Title
Income Inequality in the United States vs. Romania
Abstract
The United States’ economy is the largest and most technologically advance nation in the world. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or the total value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year, is the largest compared to all other industrial nations. GDP per capita as a measure of economic standard of living is $46,400. At the same time, income inequality gap is growing and that creating a constraint for social mobility of the middle class in the United States. There are different view points on the reasons behind income distribution gap where rich are getting richer and poor stay poor or even move to a lower level. These factors ranging from advancement of technology, movement from manufacturing to service society, outsourcing, stagnation of real wages, higher number of unskilled immigrants moving to the United States and globalization.
A major side effect of this trend is the contraction of the middle and lower class income levels creating more poverty and decreased living standards for a large portion of the countries’ populations. Society needs to address income distribution, as it relates to better economic health. A thriving middle class is an important component of economic, political, and social stability of any nation.
Recommended Citation
Leeson, Joseph and Lindenfelser, Michael
(2013)
"Income Inequality in the United States vs. Romania,"
Undergraduate Journal of Global Citizenship: Vol. 1:
Iss.
3, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/jogc/vol1/iss3/2