Title: Causes of income inequality in the United States - Wikipedia
Headings: Causes of income inequality in the United States
Causes of income inequality in the United States
Main article: Income inequality in the United States
Contents
Divergence of productivity and compensation
Overall
Analyzing the gap
Reasons for the gap
Market factors
Globalization
Superstar hypothesis
Education
Skill-biased technological change
Race and gender disparities
Incentives
Stock buybacks
Tax and transfer policies
Background
Income taxes
Taxes on capital
Other tax policies
Debate over effects of tax policies
Transfer payments
Tax expenditures
Other causes
Shifts in political power
Decline of unions
Political parties and presidents
Non-party political action
Immigration
Wage theft
Corporatism
Neoliberalism
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Content: globalization – Lesser-skilled American workers have been losing ground in the face of competition from workers in Asia and other emerging economies. skills – The rapid pace of progress in information technology has increased the relative demand for higher-skilled workers. superstars – Compensation in many sectors turned into a tournament in which the winner is richly rewarded, while the runners-up get far less. This affects both workers and investors (in dominant firms). immigration – Relatively high levels of immigration of less-skilled workers since 1965 may have reduced wages for American-born high school dropouts. decline of unions – Unions helped increase wages, benefits and working conditions. Unionized workers declined from over 30% to around 12%. social norms – Social norms constrained executive pay. CEO pay rose from around 40 times the average workers pay in the 1970s to over 350 times in the early 2000s. Contents
1 Divergence of productivity and compensation
1.1 Overall
1.2 Analyzing the gap
1.3 Reasons for the gap
2 Market factors
2.1 Globalization
2.2 Superstar hypothesis
2.3 Education
2.4 Skill-biased technological change
2.5 Race and gender disparities
2.6 Incentives
2.7 Stock buybacks
3 Tax and transfer policies
3.1 Background
3.2 Income taxes
3.3 Taxes on capital
3.4 Other tax policies
3.5 Debate over effects of tax policies
3.6 Transfer payments
3.7 Tax expenditures
4 Other causes
4.1 Shifts in political power
4.2 Decline of unions
4.3 Political parties and presidents
4.4 Non-party political action
4.5 Immigration
4.6 Wage theft
4.7 Corporatism
4.8 Neoliberalism
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
Divergence of productivity and compensation
Illustrates the productivity gap (i.e., the annual growth rate in productivity minus annual growth rate in compensation) by industry from 1985–2015.