Sunday, January 29, 2006

Growing Inequality?

Any study that presents data on income inequality that 1) doesn't look at the same people over time, 2) doesn't consider income from redistribution programs, 3) doesn't look at net income rather than untaxed gross income, 4) doesn't consider employer-provided (non-wage) benefits, 5) doesn't control for peoples' ages, 6) doesn't control for household size and, most of all, 7) doesn't take immigration into account is at best sloppy and at worst intellectually dishonest.

HT: Cafe Hayek and XYZ the nutcase at the MacAddict Forums.