Measures of Inequality

Imagine that you are advising a political candidate as he forms his opinion on what the nation should do to reduce income inequality. Before he decides on his position, he needs to understand more of the facts about how much inequality has increased over time and what the causes of that increase have been.

Write a briefing memo that provides information, including specific evidence from research when possible, about what factors have caused rising inequality in the United States.

Required elements of the memo include:

• An explanation of at least two different, commonly used measures of inequality
• A brief summary of the timing of increased inequality in the United States based on the measures you describe
• A summary of the importance of trade, changing technology, and at least one other factor in causing increased inequality between 1980 and the present
• Use of a simple supply and demand argument to support/explain at least one of the causes
• Mention of at least two different pieces/types of economic research that have examined causes of rising inequality
• In your conclusion, offer your opinion, based on the causes you have highlighted, of the types of policies that he should consider (THIS will be speculative; feel free to offer your personal opinion here, but limit this to 1-2 paragraphs. Most of the memo should be fact and research based)

Be sure to think about the organization of your memo, use sub-headings when helpful, and think about the structure of individual paragraphs. Your memo should have an introduction and conclusion. Proofread carefully.

As always, include the total word count (not counting footnotes/citations) at the bottom of your memo. Convert the memo into pdf format before uploading to Canvas.