Exercise 1

One way to assess how the distribution of wealth is changing in society is to measure how much of the wealth is controlled by different segments of the population at different points in time. Visit the Inequality.org Web site (http://www.inequality.org) and select “Data Bank” on the left side of the page. Use the graph and table under “Part 1: Wealth Patterns” to answer the following questions:

1. Which group experienced the biggest gain in wealth between 1995 and 1998?



2. In 1998, how much of the nation’s wealth was controlled by the top 10 percent of the population?



3. Between 1983 and 1992, which groups increased their share of wealth? Which groups saw a decline in the share of wealth they controlled?

Exercise 2

Go to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site and view the table on “Low Income Uninsured Children by State 1997, 1998, and 1999” (http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/liuc99.html). This table presents the average number of children living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level and the average number of children living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level who do not have insurance. Each set of columns contains (1) the raw number of children in that category (in thousands); (2) the standard error of the raw number; (3) the percent of children in that category; and (4) the standard error of the percentage. To answer the following questions, you will need the third column in each set of columns: the percent of children in that category.

1. Which five states have the highest percentage of children living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level? Do they have any characteristics in common (e.g., same geographic area, large populations)? How does this compare with a list of the five states with the highest percentage of children living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level without insurance?



2. Which five states have the lowest percentage of children living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level? Do they have any characteristics in common (e.g., same geographic area, large populations)? How does this compare with a list of the five states with the lowest percentage of children living at or below 200 of the poverty level without insurance?