Research Paper on:
'Income Equality' and the Analysis of Business Articles

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Income inequality Article #1: Source: Murphy, Cait. "Are The Rich Cleaning Up?"Fortune. 9/4/2000. Vol. 142 No. 5 page 252-5.(All the following information comes from this  source) Introduction: Blue-collar workers make less than they did a generation ago, while the earnings of professionals have soared. How do we fix that? Do we even need to?  This dichotomy--between new wealth and the not-so-wealthy--has lately become something of an academic and political obsession. Economists and social scientists have turned the study of income inequality into a thriving  cottage industry. And while the rich-poor gap has not cropped up explicitly in the presidential campaign, it is the subtext for a number of front-burner issues like tax cuts, educational  reform, and the "digital divide." When a politician uses the word "fairness" in an economic debate, thats often shorthand for "inequality." Why the Concern: Why the concern about inequality?  Basically, because theres more of it. From 1977 on, the cash earnings of the poorest fifth of the U.S. population fell about 9%, estimates the Center on Budget and Policy  Priorities; middle-class earnings rose 8%; and upper-income earnings, 43%. The exact numbers are hotly contested, but it is clear that the distance between the top and the bottom tiers of  income distribution has grown strikingly since the 1970s. By some measures, Americans earnings are more unequal today than at any time in the past 60 years; at best, even after  the past several years, when income has grown throughout the income distribution, the gap has evened off at or near record levels. Gini coefficient - inequality measurement tool One measurement  tool to determine the inequality of a country is the Gini coefficient; a 0 coefficient is perfect equality (everyone has exactly the same share of the economic pie). A coefficient