What can you and I do to reduce income inequality?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Are there things that ordinary people can do in their private lives to reduce economic inequality? And, if so, how would these things work? To be sure, there are macro societal mechanisms for reducing inequality. But are there micro mechanisms for reducing inequality? This article first examines inequality measures and behavioral models that produce inequality effects, identifying five sets of inequality mechanisms which lead to levers that ordinary people can use to reduce income inequality, and next discusses the levers, with special attention to their feasibility, ease of use, and side effects. The five levers highlight transfers, equal additions, negative assortative mating, wage schedules that reward multiple personal characteristics, and compensation procedures with voting rules, many voters, diversity of thought, and secret ballots. This work raises new questions for research, such as the sources of diversity of thought.