Wealth, Income and Inequality

What does it mean to be wealthy? The answer to this question varies from culture to culture. In the modernized, industrial world that we live in, wealth generally means all the collected store of valuable things that belong to a person (or family, company or country). Wealth can include money saved in bank accounts, or invested in pension schemes. It can include land, houses or other property and valuable belongings such as works of art or precious jewels. Many people also own stocks and shares in companies. The various things that make up a person’s wealth are often called assets.

So wealth is a static thing. The term income, on the other hand, suggests a flow of money. Income is the amount of money that a person (or family or company) receives over a period of time. For most people, this means the salary they get for the work they do. However, there are other sources of income. One source is government benefits, such as unemployment benefit or family support. Another source is rent from property and another is interest from savings.

Hue inequalities in wealth owned by individuals exist in many countries. Take the United Kingdom for example. A fifth of all the marketable wealth is owned by just one per cent of the UK’s population. That one per cent own over £355 billion of assets. The richest 50 per cent of the population own over 93 per cent of the wealth. In other words, half the population own nearly all the wealth and the other half own only a tiny percentage. The chart also shows that the richest one per cent of the population own over a fifth of all the country’s wealth.

Large inequalities also exist in the distribution of income. The extent of these inequalities can be shown with something called the Lorenz curve.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION 1

Economic inequality also exists on a global scale. Below are some facts about global economic inequality. See if you can guess which figures from the box complete the notes.

The lowest earning Americans have higher incomes than (1) ……………………… of the world’s population.

The world’s richest (2) ……………………. per cent earn more than the combined income of the world’s poorest (3) …………………… per cent.

The (4) ……………….. richest people in the world have incomes that are more than the combined incomes of the poorest (5) ………………. countries in the world.

Listen and check your answers.

• LISTENING COMPREHENSION 2
• What are the largest cities in the world?
• What do you think are the reasons for their population growth?
• Can you think of the reasons for such growth and of the ways to solve this problem?

Watch Channel 4 report and answer the following comprehension questions:

1) How has the population of Lagos grown over the past 3 decades?

2) What were the reasons for the population migration across the continent?

3) What’s their major occupations in Lagos?

4) Who are the ‘area boys’? What are they doing in order to survive?

5) How do you understand new economical term ‘coin base wage puzzle’?

6) What are mega slums? How do they appear? Which dangers are expecting the inhabitants of slums?

7) Which new culture has developed in these slums?

8) Which unprecedented action have the UN taken with respect to Lagos?

Tick the following statements as True or False:

1) 95 % of world population growth is happening in the megacities of the world: like Mexico City, Lagos, Mumbai, Manila, Jakarta.

2) 11-year-old Basirat Sakuru came to Lagos to sell packet water.

3) The faltering economy of African countries is fuelling street-walking as the major occupation.

4) The ‘area boys’ survive attacking motorists and demanding protection for being on their patch.

5) Building mega slums people use litter as steady fundament for their dwellings.

6) Felicia Martin chains the lunatics as they can hurt other people at the charity building.

7) The urban population of Afronasia will increase but the rural population will remain on the same level.

8) The UN have issued an A* warning on Lagos because the migration to the city must be very strictly controlled from now on.

What is the meaning of the following words used in the report:

Faltering –

Squalid –

Destitute –

Patch –

Mega slum –

Swamp –

LISTENING COMPREHENSION 3

You are going to watch and listen to the report from ‘We The People’ television programme devoted to poverty in the United States. They travel to the typical neighborhood in Oakland, CA, which might happen to be elsewhere in the country.

1) Present the statistics data you have become aware of after watching this report. Were there any figures which impressed you? Why?

2) Make a list of all the mentioned reasons leading to such a drastic and desperate situation with the black Americans.

3) Describe the situations of Janine, Clive, Brenda Wadsworth, Jesse Mendes, Shamaneak Jones. How do you feel about these people: are they making enough effort or can they try harder?

4) Which are the policies introduced by the government in order to help these people?

5) Do you feel prejudiced anyhow towards the people you saw in the report?

6) How is this type of poverty compared to the type of poverty in Africa?

7) What about the situation in your own country? Is it more similar to the situation in the US or in Nigeria?

ROLE PLAY: THE SCRAMBLE FOR WEALTH AND POWER

In life, some people are fighting for their dreams and some are fighting for wealth and power.

You will distribute the world’s wealth and power among yourselves.

Wealth Chart

Part 1: The Scramble (10 minutes)

1. The aim of the game is to get as many coins as possible. There is only one rule: no participant may touch another member of the group at any time (The punishment for this: 1 coin fine).

2. “Migrants” do not participate in this part of the game.

3. 20 coins are shared out between 2 of the participants.

4. 2 participants have to put 2 pairs of socks on their hands and keep them on during the whole game.

5. The coins represent wealth and power in the world.

The amount you possess will affect your capacity to satisfy your needs (e.g. for basic education, adequate food and nutrition, good health care, adequate housing) and your wants (e.g. higher education, cars, computers, toys, televisions and other luxury items).

The implications are as follows:

• six or more coins - people will be able to meet all their basic “needs” and most of their “wants”
• three to five coins - people will be able to meet their basic needs
• two or fewer coins - people will have difficulty surviving due to disease, lack of education, malnutrition, and inadequate shelter

Part 2: The Donations

1. You may, if you wish, give coins away to others. However, you are not required to do so. Still those who do share will be honoured as donors, with their names written on the list of “Honourable donors”.

2. Someone might change the category as a result of giving or receiving coins. The shifts are recorded on the chart with an arrow.

Part 3: Creating economic fairness

1. There are 3 groups of you: great wealth, some wealth and little wealth.

2. One of the “migrants” is places in each of the three groups. What is the reaction of a migrant at being placed in one group rather than another?

3. You get the pens and paper. Each group gets the task of creating a plan for the fair distribution of the coins in order to decrease the gap between the different categories of wealth and power. Each group’s plan of action should:

• explain what needs to be done (if anything),
• describe what the group plans to do and why, and
• show why their plan is fair.

4. A vote will be held to decide which plan to adopt. The distribution of votes will be as follows:

• each participant in the group with “Great wealth and power” - five votes
• each participant in the group with “Some wealth and power” - two votes
• each participant in the group with “Little wealth and power” - half a vote

5.Carry out this plan, redistributing the wealth if necessary.

Discussion:

• How did people feel about the way in which the coins were acquired and distributed? Were they treated fairly?
• Why did the people who gave coins away do so? To be honoured? Because they felt guilty? Something else?
• How did the people who received coins in part 2 feel? Grateful? Patronised?
• What about the participants with socks? What kinds of people do they represent?
• Which group did they end up in?
• What about the three participants, the “migrants”, assigned to groups? Did they feel treated fairly? Is what happened to them similar to what happens to people around the globe? What sorts of people? Is it just chance where we end up?
• What differences were there in the recommended plans for fair distribution? Did the plans reflect the wealth of the group making the proposal?
• Why were some people given more votes than others? Was this an accurate representation of those with more or less power in the world?
• Are human rights infringed when we see such differences in wealth and power? If so, which ones?
• Who are the “haves” and the “have-nots” in the world in your country and in your community? How did they come to be in these positions?
• Should the “haves” be concerned about the situation of the “have-nots”? For what reasons? Security, economic, moral/religious or political reasons? Why might the “haves” give money or resources to the “have-nots”? Is this a way to solve the problems of poverty?
• What might the “have-nots” do to improve their situation? What are some actions that “have-nots” have taken around the world and in our country to address the inequalities of wealth and power?

Sometimes the simple fact of “spreading the word” about an issue is a good step towards making change. Thus, you could raise the issues of wealth distribution with your friends and acquaintances.

UNIT 7. GLOBALIZATION

STRATEGIC VOCABULARY

UNIT 8. HUMAN RIGHTS

UNIT 9. DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS

UNIT 10. ROLE OF RUSSIA IN CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICAL AND POLITICAL WORLD-MAP

Useful Tips 1

How to Make a Good Newspaper/Magazine Article Review

Follow the given tips in order to fulfill the task for making a review most successfully.

Preparing to make a review:

1) Skim the text, noting in your mind the subheadings. If there are no subheadings, try to divide the text into sections according to the main points provided.

2) Read the text, highlighting important information and taking notes.

3) In your own words, write down the main points of each section.

4) Write down the key support points for the main topic, but do not include minor detail.

Fill in the table below to outline the main points in the article.

For example:

Global Implications of Patent Law Variations

As a result:

In his paper “Global Implications of Patent Law Variation,” Koji Suzuki (1991) states

that lack of consistency in the world’s patent laws is a serious problem. In most of the world,

patent ownership is given to the inventor that is first to file for a patent. However, the United

States maintains a first-to-invent policy. In view of this, patent ownership can change depending

on the country. Multiple patent ownership can result in economic problems; however, most

striking is the international tension it causes. The fact that the United States does not recognize

patent ownership in other countries, in violation of the Paris Convention on Industrial Properties,

has prompted the World Intellectual Properties Organization (WIPO) to push the United States to

review its existing patent law principles.

5) What is your final impression of the main points included in the article? How do they combine to support the main idea?

6) What ideas do you have for the letter that you will write in response to this article? What position will you take and why?

Useful Links 2

British Newspapers

Useful Presentation Tips 3

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