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| Equilibrium : society's best medicine |
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What is the single most important change that those of us who want to improve the world should be working on?
The environment is crucial, so is arms control. Some would say that politics, war and peace, race relationships, are what matter most. Others believe that spirituality and/or religion are the keys to world improvement.
This webpage was inspired by the work of British social scientists who used a book they called "The Spirit Level" to promote the case for what I personally believe might best be called "social equilibrium", i.e. the more fairly and equitably that any social entity's resources are distributed among its members, the better life will be in just about every respect, not just for the poorest or weakest members of that community, but even for its most powerful and most prosperous members.
While this endeavor began in England, it has since been extended worldwide and now features - not only comparisons between different nations of the whole world, - but comparisons between the different states of the United States of America.
Although several years have past since this page was published, its insights are as significant today as they were then.
In addition to the book, these scientists also maintain the EqualityTrust.org.uk web site where they have provided a wealth of information, including many of the outstanding charts that support the case made in their book.
Before re-publishing the charts here, however, I took the liberty to make a few improvements, such as the font used on the names of the countries to make them more legible. (I wish I could have been able to do the same for the two-letter abbreviations for the states of the U.S.A., but that proved too difficult).
Some of these charts may look very similar to others at first, but they differ either because they deal with states as opposed to countries, or because they emphasize the variations that occur among geographical entities as a result of the absolute amount of wealth in those entities, as opposed to variations resulting from differing levels of distribution of wealth within entities.
| from MOST down to LEAST Balance / Equilibrium : |
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the extent of infant mortality in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and
the rate of infant mortality in those states.
The well-being of children is not that much greater in countries with greater average incomes than in poorer countries.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the extent of child well-being in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and a variety of childhood violence in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and educational scores in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and the school dropout rate in those states.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the teenage birth rate in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and the teen pregnancy rate in those states.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the obesity rate in those nations.
There doesn't seem to be much of a connection between the wealth (average income) of the various nations, and the extent of mental health problems in those nations :
The rate of drug abuse in each country isn't affected by the amount of wealth, as much as by the distribution of that wealth among the inhabitants of those countries.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the rate of imprisonment in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and the rate of imprisonment in those states.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and the murder rates in those states.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and one's lifespan in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and one's life expectancy in those states.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the level of social trust in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and the level of social trust in those states.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the rate of upward social mobility in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the rate of Innovation in those nations.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various nations of the world and the extent of social problems in those nations.
There doesn't seem to be much of a connection between a state's health or social problems and the wealth (average income) of states.
Notice how the trend line suggests a strong correlation between the degree of income imbalance in the various states of the union and the extent of health and other social problems in those states.
The two graphs below provide a historical perspective of what has happened over the past 30 years or so in the world's two leading English speaking nations:
"The relationships between inequality and the prevalence of health and social problems shown in earlier chapters suggest that if the United States was to reduce its income inequality to something like the average of the four most equal of the rich countries (Japan, Norway, Sweden and Finland), the proportion of the population feeling they could trust others might rise by 75 per cent - presumably with matching improvements in the quality of community life, rates of mental illness and obesity might similarly each be cut by almost two-thirds, teenage birth rates could be more than halved, prison populations might he reduced by 75 per cent, and people could live longer while working the equivalent of two months less per year." (p. 161)
Concern about social imbalance is not new. Here is what Thomas Jefferson had to say about it :"The consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislatures cannot invest too many devices for subdividing property� Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise. Whenever there is in any country, uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on."
( http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=967 ):
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