How did the income share of the lowest 20 percent of U.S. households change between 1970 and 2006?

Correct answer: It decreased from 4.1 percent to 3.4 percent.

Explanation

This question tests the understanding of the trend towards greater income inequality in the United States since 1970, using specific data points provided in the chapter's tables.

Other questions

Question 1

What is the Lorenz curve used to represent in economics?

Question 2

Based on the 2006 data for household income in the United States, what percentage of total before-tax income did the highest 20 percent of households receive?

Question 3

What does the Gini ratio measure?

Question 4

According to the analysis of government redistribution in 2005, what was the primary driver for the reduction in income inequality?

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT listed as a cause of income inequality?

Question 7

What is considered the most significant contributor to the growing income inequality in the U.S. since 1970?

Question 8

The basic argument for an equal distribution of income is that it achieves what goal?

Question 9

What is the fundamental trade-off that society faces when considering income redistribution?

Question 10

What was the official poverty line for a family of four in the United States in 2006?

Question 11

According to 2006 data, which population group had the highest incidence of poverty?

Question 12

What is the primary distinction between social insurance programs and public assistance programs?

Question 13

Which of the following is an example of a public assistance program?

Question 14

What is the purpose of the Earned-Income Tax Credit (EITC)?

Question 15

According to the taste-for-discrimination model, what does the discrimination coefficient 'd' represent?

Question 16

In the taste-for-discrimination model, if a white employer has a discrimination coefficient 'd' of 3 dollars and the market wage for a white worker is 15 dollars, the employer will be indifferent between a white worker and an equally productive African-American worker at what wage for the African-American worker?

Question 17

What is statistical discrimination?

Question 18

The occupational segregation model explains lower wages for certain groups as a result of what mechanism?

Question 19

What is the societal consequence of eliminating occupational segregation, according to the crowding model?

Question 20

What does the text identify as a major limitation of using a single year's income data to measure inequality?

Question 21

What was the average income of a U.S. farm household in 2006?

Question 22

According to the analysis in the chapter, which two population groups experience poverty rates that are roughly double the rate for whites?

Question 23

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, established in 1996, included which of the following provisions?

Question 24

What is human capital?

Question 25

The argument that income inequality is necessary for economic efficiency is based on the idea that inequality...

Question 26

What was the Gini ratio for U.S. household income in 2006?

Question 27

Which demographic group in the U.S. had the highest Gini ratio in 2006, indicating the most internal income inequality?

Question 28

In the context of the taste-for-discrimination model, what would a 'color-blind' employer's discrimination coefficient 'd' be?

Question 29

What is the primary difference between income and wealth?

Question 30

In 2005, what percentage of total income did the lowest quintile of U.S. households receive before government taxes and transfers were accounted for?

Question 31

According to the crowding model of occupational segregation, if discrimination is eliminated, what is the expected impact on the wages of the previously crowded group and the previously preferred group?

Question 32

Which of the following is an example of statistical discrimination?

Question 33

In 2007, about how many people received benefits from the Social Security program?

Question 34

Which factor is NOT considered a cause of growing income inequality since 1970?

Question 35

What was the poverty rate in the United States in 2006?

Question 36

The argument from the 'Consider This: Slicing the Pizza' box suggests that redistributing income to make shares more equal often leads to what outcome?

Question 37

In 2004, what percentage of total family wealth was held by the top 1 percent of families in the United States?

Question 38

What happened to the median family wealth in the U.S. between 1995 and 2004, after adjusting for inflation?

Question 39

Which of the following social insurance programs is financed by a payroll tax on all work income, not just up to a certain limit?

Question 40

What is the economic cost to society of discrimination?

Question 41

A Gini ratio of 0 represents what state of income distribution?

Question 42

What percentage of the reduction in U.S. income inequality is attributed to transfer payments?

Question 43

The wage difference between college graduates and high school graduates for men rose from 22 percent in 1980 to what percentage in 2005?

Question 44

What was the official poverty rate for Asians in the United States in 2006?

Question 45

Which of the following best defines the crowding model of discrimination?

Question 46

What was the total expenditure for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in 2007?

Question 47

According to the text, the income share received by the top 5 percent of U.S. households rose from 16.6 percent in 1970 to what in 2006?

Question 48

In the taste-for-discrimination model, competition is predicted to reduce discrimination in the long run because...

Question 49

Which of these programs is a social insurance program, rather than a public assistance program?

Question 50

What was the poverty threshold for a family of six in 2006?