TRUMP'S TAX PROPOSAL WOULD INCREASE INEQUALITY

Probably quite predictably, President Trump's tax proposal is expected to increase the inequality in USA even more.

See the full article in The Guardian:
"Trump's tax proposal would push US below Greece on inequality index"  
The Guardian  17.7.2017

Link:
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jul/17/trump-united-states-tax-reform-plan-greece-commitment-to-reducing-inequality-cri-index

UNITED NATIONS LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO COMBAT ATROCITIES

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has launched a new initiative Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes.

More information from UN News Centre:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=57183#.WWvMZIiGPIU

THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN THE WORLD

The international charity organization Oxfam reported at the beginning of this year that only eight men own the same amount of wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world population. (1)

Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2016 (2) listed the countries that have the biggest share of millionaires:

Number of dollar millionaires (% of world total) by country

COUNTRY	(%)
USA	41
Japan	9
United Kingdom	7
China	5
France	5
Germany	5
Australia	3
Canada	3
Italy	3
South Korea	2
Switzerland	2
Spain	1
Taiwan	1
Rest of the world	12

During this century, the number of millionaires has increased by 155 % and 

the number of ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals has increased by 216 %. (Credit Suisse Wealth Report 2016, page 19) USA has had significantly larger amount of millionaires than any other country. However, the amount of "new millionaires" and UHNW individuals from emerging economies is rising fast.

Allianz Global Wealth Report 2015 (3) listed the countries that have biggest share of global personal wealth (financial assets):

COUNTRY	(%) 2015*
USA	41.60
China	10.48
Japan	8.89
UK	5.63
Germany	3.85
France	3.45
Canada	3.00
Italy	2.90
Australia	1.98
South Korea	1.60

*2015: Gross financial assets / Global share in %

USA has had significantly larger share of global personal wealth than any other country. However, for example China's share has risen from 4.13 % in 2010 
to 10.48 % in 2015. (3,4)


Allianz has also calculated Gini coefficient of wealth distribution. The higher the Gini coefficient is, the greater the inequality of wealth distribution is in a certain country. Here are some figures from Allianz Global Wealth Report 2016 (5):

Gini coefficient of wealth distribution (in %)

Ten most unequal countries (of 53 selected countries):

USA	0.81
Sweden	0.79
South Africa	0.78
United Kingdom	0.75
Indonesia	0.74
Austria	0.73
Brazil	0.73
Chile	0.73
Colombia	0.73
Germany	0.73

Ten most equal countries (of 53 selected countries):

Australia, Belgium and Italy	0.59
Norway	0.57
Spain	0.56
Greece	0.55
Japan	0.55
Ireland	0.54
Slovenia	0.53
South Korea	0.53
China	0.52
Slovakia	0.44

The distribution of wealth is most unequal in USA and most equal in Slovakia. Inequality has increased in the world's traditional industrialized countries. 
The countries with an improved Gini coefficient (i.e. greater equality) tend to be emerging markets. (Allianz Global Wealth Report 2016, page 47)

Sources:

1) Oxfam press release 16.1.2017:
https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world

2) Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2016:
https://www.credit-suisse.com/ch/en/about-us/research/research-institute/publications.html

3) Allianz Global Wealth Report 2010:
http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/xls/RawDataFiles/WealthReportsEtc/OtherWealthReports/AllianzGlobalWealthReport2010.pdf

4) Allianz Global Wealth Report 2015:
https://www.allianz.com/v_1444215837000/media/economic_research/publications/specials/en/AGWR2015_ENG.pdf

5) Allianz Global Wealth Report 2016:
https://www.allianz.com/v_1474281539000/media/economic_research/publications/specials/en/AGWR2016e.pdf

STATISTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN OECD COUNTRIES

I have arranged the current OECD countries so, that the country where the distribution of disposable income is most uneven - and the number describing Gini coefficient is biggest - is first. Most of the latest figures are from year 2013, but in some cases the figure is from year 2014 or 2012.

Country	GINI* (0-1 scale)	Years compared
Chile	0.511  /  0.465	2006** / 2013
Mexico	0.474  /  0.459	2004** / 2014
USA	0.36  /  0.394	2004** / 2014
Turkey	0.43  /  0.393	2004** / 2013
Israel	0.378  /  0.365	2005** / 2014
Estonia	0.349  /  0.361	2004 / 2013
United Kingdom	0.354  /  0.358	2004 / 2013
Lithuania	0.35  /  0.353	2004 / 2013
Latvia	0.363  /  0.352	2004 / 2013
Spain	0.332  /  0.346	2004 / 2013
Greece	0.333  /  0.343	2004 / 2013
Portugal	0.384  /  0.342	2004 / 2013
Australia	0.315  /  0.337	2004** / 2014
New Zealand	0.335  /  0.333	2003** / 2012
Japan	0.321  /  0.33	2003** / 2012
Italy	0.331  /  0.325	2004 / 2013
Canada	0.322  /  0.322	2004** / 2013
Ireland	0.324  /  0.309	2004 / 2013
South Korea	0.306  /  0.302	2006** / 2014
Poland	0.376  /  0.3	2004 / 2013
Switzerland	0.298  /  0.295	2009** / 2013
France	0.283  /  0.294	2004** / 2013
Germany	0.285  /  0.292	2004** / 2013
Hungary	0.303  /  0.288	2003** / 2014
Netherlands	0.284  /  0.283	2005** / 2014
Luxembourg	0.264  /  0.281	2004 / 2013
Sweden	0.234  /  0.281	2004** / 2013
Austria	0.269  /  0.28	2004 / 2013
Slovak Republic	0.265  /  0.269	2004 / 2013
Belgium	0.288  /  0.268	2004 / 2013
Czech Republic	0.268  /  0.262	2004 / 2013
Finland	0.266  /  0.257	2004 / 2014
Slovenia	0.241  /  0.255	2004 / 2013
Denmark	0.232  /  0.254	2005** / 2013
Norway	0.276  /  0.252	2004** / 2013
Iceland	0.261  /  0.244	2004 / 2013

*)  GINI (Disposable income, post taxes and transfers)

**) Income definition until 2011

In the USA the Gini coefficient was slightly bigger in 2014 than for example in Turkey. The Gini coefficient seems to have become significantly smaller in Chile, Turkey and Portugal. Some notable positive changes have also happened for example in Ireland and Belgium. The situation seems to be particularly good in Iceland where the Gini coefficient was the smallest in 2013. The income inequality seems to have become greater in the USA, but the change has been even more notable in Sweden. There has also been fairly negative change in Australia and Denmark.

Source: 

http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=IDD

THE SUPPORT OF ALL U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Real Clear Politics has very good statistics about the average support of each presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton (Democratic Party), Donald Trump (Republican Party), Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party) and Jill Stein (Green Party). Pew Research Center, the company I mentioned in my previous post, is also included in these results. The numbers have been taken from the Real Clear Politics website today, on Sunday the 21st of August.

When the voters had to choose between two candidates, the average support was this:

Clinton	Trump
46.8 %	41.5 %

When the voters had to choose between three candidates, the average support was this (I calculated the difference between these and two-way results, it is in brackets):

Clinton	Trump	Johnson
42.9 %   (- 3.9)	37.1 %   (- 4.4)	8.6 %

When the voters had to choose between four candidates, the average support was this (I calculated the difference between these and two-way results, it is in brackets):

Clinton	Trump	Johnson	Stein
42.6 %   (- 4.2)	37.1 %   (- 4.4)	8.6 %   (-)	3.1 %

Source:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton_vs_johnson-5949.html

SOME VOTER DEMOGRAPHICS REGARDING U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Pew Research Center conducted a survey (15. - 26.6.2016) where people were asked the following question: "If you had to choose between __ who would you vote for?"

When asked to choose between the two leading candidates, 51 % chose Hillary Clinton and  42 % chose Donald Trump. (In another question people were asked to choose between three candidates, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Gary Johnson    - I will analyze those results later)

Here are some notable demographic differences:

Group	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump
All  18-29	60 %	30%
All  30-49	52 %	39 %
All women	59 %	35 %
Women 18-34	69 %	25 %
Women 18-49	62 %	30 %
Women 50+	57 %	39 %
Unmarried women	65 %	28 %
Black	91 %	7 %
Hispanic	66 %	24 %
Postgrad (degree)	60 %	33 %
Family income < $ 30 000	62 %	33 %

Here are the groups where support for Trump was bigger than support for Clinton:

Group	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump
White	42 %	51 %
All men	43 %	49 %
Men 50+	38 %	56 %
Married men	37 %	56 %
All 65+	46 %	49 %
White, non-college	36 %	57 %

Source:
http://www.people-press.org/2016/07/07/2-voter-general-election-preferences/