The exam will consist of both essay and short answer questions. Do not spend so much time on the short answers that you run out of time for the essays. The essay(s) should be well organized, claims should be presented clearly and evidence to support your claims must be included (overly broad statement without evidence will receive lower scores). Part of your task in this exam is to demonstrate that you have read and understand the requiredreading. It is fine to disagree with the arguments made by the authors, but your critique must bebacked up with logic and evidence and you must first demonstrate that you have a very clearunderstanding of what they are saying and how they are supporting their arguments. Be prepared to write a lot. I cant give you credit for something unless you show me you know it. Do not repeat the question when writing your essay. Good Luck!!!
To do well on the midterm you should be able to answer the following:
Trace the broad patterns of inequality in the U.S. from the 1930s onward and how differentincome classes have been affected. What caused these trends, according to Saez?
What does recent work by Saez and others tell us about the geography of intergenerational mobility?
Drawing from the Smeeding article (Poorer by Comparison) describe how the U.S. compareswith other rich countries.
What is the most important finding of the film Unnatural Causes? Describe how—the mechanisms—through which inequality affects health.
What factors caused the rise in income inequality that has occurred since the late 1970s? How much of the explanation does each factor provide?
How have race and gender played a role in the increases in economic inequality that occurred over the 30-40 years?
Describe the degree to which intergenerational mobility is or is not a myth for different groups in America. Use facts and statistics to support your answer.
Why have the incomes of the very rich — what Noah calls the stinking rich—skyrocketed inrecent years?
Explain the norms, government policies and institutions that were discussed in class lecture and in Noah that help to explain the increase in inequality.
What is the likelihood that someone born into a poor family in the U.S. will someday be rich? How does this compare with intergenerational mobility in other countries?
what are the social gradients of health?
Is inequality the problem, or is poverty the real issue? Why?
How have changes in family structure (marriage patterns) affected inequality?
Discuss the different effects of poverty and inequality on life expectancy and happiness, according to the evidence presented by Wilkinson and Pickett.
What is the evidence for the claim that inequality has significant negative effects on peoples health, well-being and happiness and the overall well-being of societies? (Be specific and use the measures that form the Index of Health and Social Problems on p. 19 in Wilkinson and Pickett). Explain Wilkinson and Pickets hypothesis for why/how inequality produces sick societies.
How has union membership changed over the last half century?
What were the effects of the Wagner Act? The Taft-Hartley Act?
What factors does Noah state are NOT the causes of increasing inequality? What are the arguments against these being the true causes?
What do American think about inequality the degree of inequality in the U.S? What would they like it to be?
What is absolute inequality? What is relative inequality? What is absolute mobility? Relative mobility? What difference does focusing on one or the other make?
Approximately what percentage of income currently goes to different income groups in the U.S.?
Some people have argued that rising inequality is mainly due to globalization, technologicalchange, and changes in the economy that have increased returns to a college degree (formal education). Others say that rising inequality has more to do with skyrocketing incomes of the 1% and government policy. Which is a better explanation for what has been happening in the U.S over the past 30-40 years.
