Angus Deaton: Inequality Serious Threat
on Saturday, October 17, 2015Angus Deaton Money Quotation saying wealth inequality has a serious downside of threatening the well-being of everyone. Angus Deaton said:
“I think inequality has gone past the point where it’s helping us all get rich, and it’s really becoming a serious threat” — Angus Deaton
In this quote, Angus Deaton is expressing concern about rising economic inequality. He suggests that inequality has increased to a level where it is no longer contributing to overall societal prosperity, as some degree of inequality can through incentivizing innovation and growth. Instead, Deaton views extreme inequality as now becoming a “serious threat”.
He seems to believe that when wealth concentrates too much at the top, it can hold back broader economic opportunities and participation. Deaton appears to argue that current inequality has passed a point of optimal imbalance and started undermining shared growth, potentially through reduced social cohesion, political capture by elites, and lack of aggregate demand from middle/lower income groups.
The quote reflects Deaton’s view that inequality poses risks when taken to its furthest extremes in modern economies.