Wealthy and wanting: What the wealthy miss out on through income segregation
Faculty Mentor
Mark Holmgren
Document Type
Poster
Start Date
10-5-2023 11:15 AM
End Date
10-5-2023 1:00 PM
Location
PUB NCR
Department
Economics
Abstract
The United States has a growing rate of income inequality between the top earners and the bottom earners measured by the Gini index, as reported by the US census bureau. This spread of income distribution has resulted in geographical distributions of individuals by real wage with those highest earners separated from the bottom earners. The bottom earners’ regional separation is well researched and shows how low income individuals miss out on economic opportunities that living and working in close proximity to those high earners would provide. In this paper, we will examine the implications that this geographic stratification has on consumption behavior for some of the most wealthy zip codes as measured by median wage using data provided by Site To Do Business (STDB). This data set is extensive containing data related to wages, business and real estate value and foot traffic through specific businesses allowing us to examine what those in the highest earning zip codes miss out on by being separated from those in lower earning zip-codes and what consumption preferences lead them to leave their zip codes and travel to less affluent areas. With a better understanding of what wealthy people miss out on legislators and social commentators can better prescribe legislative and social solutions to growing income inequality.
Recommended Citation
Schaaf, Brooks, "Wealthy and wanting: What the wealthy miss out on through income segregation" (2023). 2023 Symposium. 49.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2023/res_2023/p2_2023/49
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Wealthy and wanting: What the wealthy miss out on through income segregation
PUB NCR
The United States has a growing rate of income inequality between the top earners and the bottom earners measured by the Gini index, as reported by the US census bureau. This spread of income distribution has resulted in geographical distributions of individuals by real wage with those highest earners separated from the bottom earners. The bottom earners’ regional separation is well researched and shows how low income individuals miss out on economic opportunities that living and working in close proximity to those high earners would provide. In this paper, we will examine the implications that this geographic stratification has on consumption behavior for some of the most wealthy zip codes as measured by median wage using data provided by Site To Do Business (STDB). This data set is extensive containing data related to wages, business and real estate value and foot traffic through specific businesses allowing us to examine what those in the highest earning zip codes miss out on by being separated from those in lower earning zip-codes and what consumption preferences lead them to leave their zip codes and travel to less affluent areas. With a better understanding of what wealthy people miss out on legislators and social commentators can better prescribe legislative and social solutions to growing income inequality.
