592 Miller Economics Today, Nineteenth Edition
Chapter 30 Income, Poverty, and Health Care
The U.S. Poverty Level versus Average Incomes Abroad
Each year the World Bank issues a report that provides the per capita incomes of about 150 nations. Out
of all these countries, only 26 percent have per capita incomes higher than the poverty income threshold
Mandatory Health Insurance Law Enacted in Massachusetts
In 2006, Massachusetts enacted a law requiring all Massachusetts residents to have health insurance. At
the time the law was passed, there were about 500,000 uninsured residents who would be required to buy
health insurance. Low-
required all residents to obtain health insurance by July 1, 2007. Those who did not comply with the law
Outsourcing and Increasing Income Inequality
In an essay in Time magazine, Fareed Zararia identified three classes of jobs. At a very simple level are
relatively unskilled jobs, jobs that require skilled or relatively well-educated labor that involve performing
routine tasks, and finally jobs that are largely done by highly educated professionals. The middle class is
Lecture Extender Examples 593
Should the Government Encourage Marriage?
Since the end of the 1970s, the average income of the top fifth of male income earners has risen by about
4 percent. During the same period, the average earnings of men in the bottom fifth fell by 44 percent. A
key reason for this disparity is that poor men today are less likely to be married. In 1979, almost three out
of every five men among the poorest 20 percent of income earners were married. Today, however, only
about two out of five are married.
Why It Is Misleading to Examine Only Wages and Salaries
At the end of the 1960s, total wages and salaries accounted for close to 60 percent of the income
received from all sources in the United States. Since then, the share of total national income has
594 Miller Economics Today, Nineteenth Edition
The Financial Crisis and Income Inequality
In the financial crisis of 2008, the stock market lost more than $7 trillion in value, and large numbers of
very highly paid workers in the financial services industry lost their jobs. Corporate profits fell as the
recession got under way, and because corporate profits are used to pay dividends, these likely decreased,
too. The richest 1 percent of the population own about 36.7 percent of the stocks, estimates New York
University economist Edward Wolff.
There is considerable income mobility in the United States. Between 50 and 80 percent of U.S. residents
who at any time earned incomes among the lowest 20 percent of income earners are still part of that
category 10 years later. Within 20 years, 95 percent are no longer classified among the lowest 20 percent
of income earners.
Furthermore, many of the lowest income residents make dramatic gains in earnings. Nearly half of U.S.
residents who began in poverty in the 1980s, reached the middle income 20 percent by the 2000s. Almost
a fourth reached the top 20 percent of the U.S. income distribution.
Lecture Extender Examples 595
Canadian system as a model. Over the past few years, dramatic events highlighted the pitfalls of the
Canadian system. A pregnant woman died of a brain hemorrhage when her doctors could not locate a
neurosurgical facility that had room for her. After months of postponed appointments, a woman suffering
from stomach pains died of cancer that might have been treatable if detected earlier. Other patients with
suspected cancers had to sign lists to get onto waiting lists for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices.