Cost-of-living shocks fall hardest on lower-income households, which can widen measured inequality, though the link to the Gini index is gradual and confounded; flagged low confidence.
World Bank estimate of the Gini index of income inequality for the United States, where 0 is perfect equality and 100 is maximal inequality. A structural cost-of-living and welfare indicator: persistently high inequality concentrates the gains from growth and amplifies the welfare cost of inflation for lower-income households. The US Gini has stayed elevated near 41 for three decades.
How to read it
Lower is better — readings above the norm count as worse, so they plot downward here.
Measured value over time. Its norm (38.0 Gini index (0-100)) is far off this scale, so the series stays worse than norm throughout — the deviation badge shows the gap.
Each driver linked to this indicator, strongest pull first, on the same timeline above. Markers are the facts that moved that driver. These are modelled influences — treat them as correlational unless a documented causal edge is shown.
Cost-of-living shocks fall hardest on lower-income households, which can widen measured inequality, though the link to the Gini index is gradual and confounded; flagged low confidence.
World Bank estimate of the Gini index of income inequality for the United States, where 0 is perfect equality and 100 is maximal inequality. A structural cost-of-living and welfare indicator: persistently high inequality concentrates the gains from growth and amplifies the welfare cost of inflation for lower-income households. The US Gini has stayed elevated near 41 for three decades.
This indicator’s slice of Factrail’s verified causal web — the people, facts, drivers and welfare indicators it connects to. Select any node to trace a path.
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