A 0 means perfect equality. As the coefficient rises toward one, incomes become more unequal. The Gini coefficient has risen consistently and significantly from 0.399 in 1967 to 0.457 in 1999. However, when means-tested government cash transfers are included, the Geni coefficient has barely moved and stood at 0.409 in 1999. Experimental Measures of Income and Poverty Causes of Income Inequality Income inequality is often the result of differences in the quantity of factor resource endowments .
Most people have labor that they can supply to earn wages.
Some people have saving that they can supply to earn interest. A few people own land from which they earn rent. A special group of people are entrepreneurs, who own capital, and earn profit. The struggle by different groups to expand their respective income shares is not new. Marx believed that the capitalists would appropriate the profits from business for their own gain at the expense of the workers and that the workers would be exploited and ultimately subject to living on subsistence wages.