CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

In this chapter, you will learn about:

• Drawing the Poverty Line

• The Poverty Trap

• The Safety Net

•

Income Inequality: Measurement and Causes

• Government Policies to Reduce Income Inequality

Introduction to Poverty and Economic Inequality

BRING IT HOME

Occupy Wall Street
In September 2011, a group of protesters gathered in Zuccotti Park in New York City to decry what they perceived

as increasing social and economic inequality in the United States. Calling their protest “Occupy Wall Street,” they

argued that the concentration of wealth among the richest 1% in the United States was both economically

unsustainable and inequitable, and needed to be changed. The protest then spread to other major cities, and the

Occupy movement was born.

Why were people so upset? How much wealth is concentrated among the top 1% in our society? How did they
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