Is it better to be rich in America, or in Germany, Japan and the Nordic countries? According to this article by Financial Times Deutschland columnist Thomas Fricke, recent evidence demonstrates that compared to countries with less income inequality, being rich in America can be dangerous to your health.
For the Financial Times Deutschland, Thomas Fricke writes in part:
For nearly 30 years, it was the recurring theme of good economic policy: When incomes drift apart it isn’t pretty, but economically it’s good – because this creates economic incentives. Nowhere has this formula been implemented as rigorously as in the U.S. and Great Britain. And nowhere, thirty years after Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, is there much doubt about whether that was good. Even conservative David Cameron promised his country more equality during the recent election campaign.
In the U.S., where the richest fifth of the population earns eight times as much as the poorest fifth, the number of teen pregnancies is almost ten times as high as in Japan or Sweden, where the richest earn just three or four times as much as the poorest. On average, Americans and British have shorter life spans, along with the Portuguese, Australians or New Zealanders, who also have high income differentials.
Within unequal societies, there is an increased tendency to obesity and mental illness. In these societies, more infants die at birth, there are more school dropouts, and, according to polls, trust in other people is weak. In the U.S., only 35 percent of people generally believe that you can trust another person; meanwhile in Norway and Sweden two thirds of people say that you can.
The rule may not apply in every country for every indicator, but: When every indicator is combined into one index, as Pickett and Wilkinson have done, there is a striking correlation. Among the industrial nations that are evaluated, the U.S. has the highest income differential of all – and on balance the worst social and health problems. Conversely, more consensual democracies provide the best living conditions.
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