Worker anxiety about job and benefit losses have fueled policies that wrongly blame immigrants, petty criminals and welfare recipients for their ills. As a result, these under-utilized human resources are threatened rather than cultivated as potential economic resources. High inequality tends to increase the expenses of protecting private property and enforcing the law. Finally, highly unequal societies such as the United States suffer significant economic productivity loss when large portions of the population have reduced access to health care, training and higher education. The statistics are clear.
Inequality is on the rise, and it carries economic costs.
There are inescapable ethical considerations that demand action against this trend. But even for a business world not always motivated by such considerations, it is becoming clearer that everyone would be better off if equity became a higher social priority. James M. Harder is associate professor of economics at Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas.