American inequality didn't just happen. It was created.

“American inequality didn't just happen. It was created.”

Joseph Stiglitz

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Inequality is a result of deliberate policies, not natural.

In simple terms: Inequality is created.

Key Takeaway

Address systemic causes of inequality.

Themes

economics social justice policy

Mood

analytical concerned

Type

economic social

When to use this quote

public policy
education reform
tax reform

Key Concepts

distribution inequalitystructural bias wealth gap

Questions to Reflect On

What policies create inequality?
How can we reverse them?

A Different Perspective

Complex causes may be oversimplified.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

More by Joseph Stiglitz

I grew up in a family in which political issues were often discussed, and debated intensely.

Joseph Stiglitz

But individuals and firms spend an enormous amount of resources acquiring information, which affects their beliefs; and actions of others too affect their beliefs.

Joseph Stiglitz

China, with its large emerging middle class, is among the big beneficiaries of globalization.

Joseph Stiglitz

Trickle-down economics is a myth. Enriching corporations - as the TPP would - will not necessarily help those in the middle, let alone those…

Joseph Stiglitz

Some people say we have this inequality because some people have been contributing much more to our society, and so it's fair that they…

Joseph Stiglitz

It's actually a tribute to the quality of economics teaching that they have persuaded so many generations of students to believe in so much…

Joseph Stiglitz

In an economy, when the government spends more and invests in the economy, that money circulates, and recirculates again and again. So not only…

Joseph Stiglitz

The laws of normal economics dictate that lower taxes combined with increased spending will lead to bigger deficits.

Joseph Stiglitz

A less healthy America is not going to be as productive.

Joseph Stiglitz

As I noted in my Nobel lecture, an early insight in my work on the economics of information concerned the problem of appropriability -…

Joseph Stiglitz

We noted the psychological problems facing many of the returning from Iraq veterans - of the 700,000 returning veterans, more than a 100,000 have…

Joseph Stiglitz

World War II was really unusual, because America was in the Great Depression before. So the war did help the US economy to get…

Joseph Stiglitz

Moreover, because we chose to finance the way by borrowing, our deficits and debt has soared, and this means we have less room for…

Joseph Stiglitz

I've always been sceptical about the notion that the market is a person you can engage in an argument with, and that that person…

Joseph Stiglitz

The striking thing about America is - it's historically, extraordinary unusual,I don't of any other instance - is that productivity of workers and wages…

Joseph Stiglitz

Explore all 251 Joseph Stiglitz quotes

More American quotes

I wasn't attracted to American cinema, but I fell in love with Los Angeles the minute I arrived.

Agnes Varda

William Maxwell's my favorite North American writer, I think. And an Irish writer who used to write for 'The New Yorker' called Maeve Brennan,…

Alice Munro

I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp names that never get fat.

Stephen Vincent Benet

I really like a lot of American country stuff, so my music has that influence, but I don't like to be set within a…

Jade Bird

I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class.

H. W. Brands

Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act in a tremendous investment to support millions of workers without a paycheck and behind on bills.

Jake Auchincloss

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and employ almost half of the working population. Yet because of their size, they rarely…

Dan Lipinski

Although I write in English, and despite the fact that I'm from America, I consider myself an Armenian writer. The words I use are…

William Saroyan

When we first sold the Wallace and Gromit shorts to America, people suggested we get rid of the strange British accents and put clear…

Nick Park

Firefighters and rescue workers are American superheroes.

Kerry Kennedy

France has not only built a bureaucratic barrier against American culture, it has constructed a notorious intellectual case against it as well. The French…

Tyler Cowen

New York and San Francisco are distinctly different. San Francisco is driving the American media, not New York. You have young, microwaved millionaires and…

Jason Whitlock