Cards and Finance

The distribution of income is central to one of the most enduring issues in political economics. On one extreme you will find the communists who argue that all incomes should be the same, or as nearly so as possible, and that a principal function of government should be to redistribute income from the haves to the have-nots. On the other extreme are those who argue that any income redistribution by government is bad. They argue that income redistribution makes people lazy and gives them incentive not to work, it favors the free riders and punishes the hard workers.

I was just checking the income distribution change in India with respect to the other nations. The rise of Indian middle class is so so evident here, and at the same time one can see how China's middle class gave in to a better distribution of money. Number of higher income people are much higher in China and Brazil than India, their BRIC partner. You can check these graphs from the website http://www.gapminder.org

Income Mobility
Another factor to consider when studying the degree of inequality in a society is the amount of income mobility. Income mobility refers to the ease with which workers can move up and down in the hierarchy of earning power. If the rich always stay rich and the poor always stay poor, then an unequal income distribution is a permanent and serious problem. But if they can move then it is much better for national economy.