South Africans debating the zero rating of certain products for VAT purposes must realise it isn’t a panacea for poor people and should be accompanied by other policies.
Alberto Cardaci, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Catholic University of Milan
Under some circumstances, people may feel wealthier than they actually are and this makes them psychologically more prone to increase their spending, as well as their borrowing.
Wealth addiction is as powerful as any other, but instead of urging addicts to get help, we often admire them. Yet they do much more damage to the world at large than your average coke fiend.
The presidents of the University of Michigan, the University of Oregon and The Ohio State University offer three ways to judge the value of a college education.
Income inequality, the most common way to measure the gap between the rich and the poor, only tells part of the story. Wealth inequality tells the rest.
The squeeze on wealth in the middle class by those at the top is a long established trend in international inequality data. But the ABS doesn’t provide this information.
Extensive research has been done on poverty and inequality in South Africa but more is needed to better understand the status quo and mainly inter-sectional factors that drive inequality.