The Rising Tide: Answering the Right Questions in the Inequality Debate

In a companion paper, “People Not Ratios: Why the Debate over Income Inequality Asks the Wrong Questions,” we argue that many inequality activists have been asking and answering the wrong questions in their quest to help the poor. Instead of analyzing the mathematical ratios between high and low incomes, poor people are better served by higher living standards. This paper proposes a policy agenda to raise living standards for poor people around the world.