Où l'on démonte le fantasme des "inégalités":
A quarter of the increased income inequality since 1976--and almost all of the increase in inequality among the top earners--is a direct result of the increased use of performance pay by American companies. Inequality is rising because hard workers are being increasingly rewarded for their higher productivity. (...)Many analysts, especially those on the left, assume that the trend is inherently harmful and call for government intervention to correct it.
Increased inequality, in and of itself, is neither positive nor negative. What matters is why inequality has increased. In a class-based society where select families control most national wealth through inheritance or coercive means, rising inequality will harm many citizens. Higher inequality in 17th-century England or in contemporary Saudi Arabia, means increased hardship for most workers.
However, in an economy where most wealth is not inherited but earned, increased inequality can be beneficial. Consider the impact of Google, Inc. The company's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are now worth more than $16 billion each. Their financial success has made America a demonstrably less equal country, and most Americans are better off for it. Google's various services allow tens of millions of Americans to quickly find what they want on the Internet, conveniently get directions to where they need to go, and use a quality e-mail server--all for free. Page and Brin became wealthy--and increased inequality--by improving the lives others.
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