The United States of Inequality

Trying to understand income inequality, the most profound change in American society in your lifetime.

In the late 1970s, a half-century trend toward growing income equality reversed itself. Ever since, U.S. incomes have grown more unequal. Middle-class incomes stagnated while the top 1 percent's share of national income climbed to 24 percent. Middle-income workers no longer benefit from productivity increases, and upward mobility, long the saving grace of the American economy, has faltered. Why is this happening? In the following 10-part series, Slate's Timothy Noah weighs eight possible causes of what Princeton economist Paul Krugman has labeled the Great Divergence. This 30-year trend "may represent the most significant change in American society in your lifetime," Noah writes, "and it's not a change for the better."

Part 1
Introducing the Great Divergence: Trying to understand income inequality.

Part 2
The Usual Suspects Are Innocent: Neither race nor gender nor the breakdown of the American family created the Great Divergence.

Part 3
Did Immigration Create the Great Divergence? Why we can't blame income inequality on the post-1965 immigration surge.

Part 4
Did Computers Create Inequality? No. The tech boom's impact was no greater than that of previous technological upheavals during the 20^th century.

Part 5
Can We Blame Income Inequality on Republicans? Yes, but for the very richest beneficiaries the trend has been bipartisan.

Part 6
The Great Divergence and the Death of Organized Labor: How has the decline of the union contributed to income inequality?

Part 7
The Great Divergence and International Trade: Trade didn't create inequality, and then it did.

Part 8
The Stinking Rich and the Great Divergence: Executive compensation took off in the 1980s and 1990s. Is it to blame?

Part 9
How the Decline in K-12 Education Enriches College Graduates: When the workforce needed to be smarter, Americans got dumber.

Part 10
Why we can't ignore growing income inequality: It undermines the ideal of e pluribus unum.

Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate. He can be reached at .

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• The United States of Inequality
  Why we can't ignore growing income inequality.
  Timothy Noah | Sept. 17, 2010
• The United States of Inequality
  Trying to understand income inequality, the most profound change in American society in your lifetime.
  Timothy Noah | Sept. 14, 2010
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