Is inequality inevitable?

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Ivana Korom

In South Africa, one of the most unequal countries in the world,

U Južnoj Africi, jednoj od najnejednakijih država na svetu,

the richest one-tenth of 1%, owns almost 30% of all the country’s wealth,

jedna desetina jednog procenta najbogatijih

poseduje skoro 30 procenata bogatstva celokupne države,

more than double what the bottom 90% owns.

više nego dvostruko od onoga što 90 procenata najsiromašnijih poseduje.

Income and wealth inequality are not new.

Nejednakost u prihodu i bogatstvu nije novina.

In fact, economists and historians who’ve charted economic inequality

Zapravo, ekonomisti i istoričari koji su pratili ekonomsku nejednakost

throughout history haven’t found a single society without it.

kroz istoriju nisu otkrili nijedno društvo u kom nije postojala.

Which raises a bleak question:

A to povlači sumorno pitanje:

is inequality inevitable?

da li je nejednakost neizbežna?

One way to estimate inequality is with a number called the Gini index,

Jedan način procene nejednakosti je broj koji se naziva Džini koeficijent,

which is calculated by comparing the income or wealth distribution

koji se izračunava poređenjem raspodele prihoda ili bogatstva

of a perfectly equal society to the actual income or wealth distribution.

savršeno jednakog društva sa stvarnom raspodelom prihoda ili bogastva.

The area of this shape multiplied by 2 is the Gini index.

Površina ovog oblika pomnožena sa dva je Džini koeficijent.

A Gini of 1 indicates perfect inequality—

Džini od 1 pokazuje savršenu nejednakost -

one person has everything and everyone else has nothing.

jedna osoba poseduje sve, a svi ostali nemaju ništa.

You’d never see this in real life

Nikada ovo ne biste videli u stvarnosti

because everyone except that one person would starve.

jer bi svi osim te jedne osobe umrli od gladi.

A Gini index of 0 indicates perfect equality—

Džinijeva vrednost od nula ukazuje na savršenu jednakost -

everyone has exactly the same income or wealth.

svako ima potpuno isti prihod ili bogatstvo.

But you also never see this in real life, not even in communist countries,

Međutim, ni ovo ne zatičete u stvarnosti, čak ni u komunističkim državama

because for one thing, that would mean paying everyone—

jer, ako ništa drugo, to bi značilo da svako dobija -

no matter how young, old, what job they’re in or where they work—

koliko god bili mladi, stari, koji god posao ili gde god da radili -

the exact same wage.

potpuno istu platu.

Typical after-tax Ginis in developed countries today are around 0.3,

Tipična vrednost Džinija nakon poreza u razvijenim državama je trenutno oko 0,3,

though there’s a wide range from pretty equal to pretty unequal.

iako imamo čitav raspon od prilične jednakosti do prilične nejednakosti.

Before we go any further, you should know what the Gini index—

Pre nego što nastavimo, trebalo bi da znate šta nam Džinijev koeficijent -

or any other measure of economic inequality— doesn’t tell us:

ili bilo koje drugo ekonomsko merilo nejednakosti - ne govori:

it gives no information about how income and wealth are distributed

ne pruža nam informaciju o tome kako su prihodi i bogastvo raspodeljeni

across genders, races, educational backgrounds or other demographics;

po rodu, rasi, obrazovanju ili drugim demografijama;

it doesn’t tell us how easy or difficult it is to escape poverty.

ne saopštava nam koliko je lako ili teško osloboditi se siromaštva.

And it also gives no insight as to how a particular society

Takođe ne nudi uvid u to kako je određeno društvo

arrived at its present level of inequality.

stiglo do trenutnog nivoa nejednakosti.

Economic inequality is deeply entangled with other types of inequality:

Ekonomska nejednakost je tesno upletena sa drugim vidovima nejednakosti:

for example, generations of discrimination, imperialism,

na primer, generacije diskriminacije, imperijalizma

and colonialism

i kolonijalizma

created deeply rooted power and class inequalities

su stvorile duboko ukorenjene vladajuće i klasne nejednakosti

that persist to this day.

koje istrajavaju do danas.

But we still need at least a rough measure of who gets how much in a country.

Ipak, i dalje nam je potrebno bar grubo merilo toga ko dobija koliko u državi.

That’s what the Gini index gives us.

To nam pruža Džini koeficijent.

Some countries are, economically, much more unequal than others.

Neke države su ekonomski daleko nejednakije od drugih.

And that’s because a significant portion of economic inequality

A to je zato što je značajan deo ekonomske nejednakosti

is the result of choices that governments make.

rezultat izbora koje su vlade napravile.

Let's talk about some of these choices.

Razgovarajmo o nekim od tih izbora.

First: what kind of economy to use.

Prvo: koji ekonomski model koristiti?

In the 20th century, some countries switched to socialism or communism

U XX veku, neke države su prešle na socijalizam ili komunizam

for a variety of reasons,

iz raznih razloga,

including reducing economic inequality.

uključujući i umanjenje ekonomske nejednakosti.

These changes did dramatically reduce economic inequality

Ove promene su drastično umanjile ekonomsku nejednakost

in the two largest non-capitalist economies,

u dve najveće nekapitalističke ekonomije:

China and the Soviet Union— especially in the Soviet Union.

Kini i Sovjetskom Savezu - naročito u Sovjetskom Savezu.

But neither country prospered as much as the world's leading economies.

Nijedna od njih pak nije mnogo napredovala kao vodeća svetska ekonomija.

So yes, people earned about as much as their neighbors did,

Dakle, da, ljudi su zarađivali otprilike isto kao njihove komšije,

but that wasn’t very much.

ali to nije bilo bog zna koliko.

This— and many other issues— contributed to the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.

Ovo - i razni drugi problemi - su doveli do pada Sovjetskog Saveza 1991.

And China, to grow more quickly, shifted its economy towards capitalism

A Kina, kako bi brže rasla, usmerila je ekonomiju ka kapitalizmu

starting in the late 1970s.

počevši kasnih 1970-ih.

What about capitalist countries?

Šta je sa kapitalističkim državama?

Can they choose to reduce economic inequality?

Mogu li one odabrati da umanje ekonomsku nejednakost?

It’s tempting to think

Iskušenje je pomisliti:

“no, because the whole point of capitalism is to hoard enough gold coins

„ne, jer je čitava poenta kapitalizma gomilanje dovoljne količine zlatnika

to be able to dive into them like Scrooge McDuck.”

kako biste mogli da plivate u njima poput Baje Patka.”

China seems to provide the textbook example of this:

Čini se da Kina predstavlja udžbenički primer za to:

after it became more capitalist,

nakon što je postala kapitalističkija,

its Gini index shot up from under 0.4 to over 0.55.

njen Džini koeficijent je skočio sa ispod 0,4 na preko 0,55.

Meanwhile, its per capita yearly income

U međuvremenu, njen godišnji prihod po stanovniku

jumped from the rough equivalent of $1,500 to over $13,000.

je skočio od otprilike ekvivalenta 1 500 na preko 13 000 dolara.

But there are many counter-examples:

Postoji pak mnogo suprotnih primera:

capitalist countries in which inequality is actually holding steady or decreasing.

kapitalističkih država u kojima je nejednakost zapravo stabilna ili u padu.

France has kept its Gini index below 0.32 since 1979.

Francuska drži svoj Džini koeficijent ispod 0,32 od 1979.

Ireland's Gini has been trending mostly downward since 1995.

Džini koeficijent u Irskoj je uglavnom u padu od 1995.

The Netherlands and Denmark have kept theirs below 0.28 since the 1980s.

Holandija i Danska drže svoj ispod 0,28 od 1980-ih.

How do they do it?

Kako to postižu?

One way is with taxes.

Jedan od načina su porezi.

Personal income taxes in most countries are progressive:

Porez na lični dohodak u većini država je progresivan:

the more money you make, the higher your tax rate.

što više zarađujete, plaćate veću poresku stopu.

And the more progressive your tax system, the more it reduces inequality.

A što je progresivniji vaš poreski sistem, to više umanjuje nejednakost.

So, for example, while pre-tax income inequality in France

Na primer, dok je nejednakost u Francuskoj pre poreza

is roughly the same as it is in the US,

otprilike ista kao u SAD-u,

post-tax inequality in France is roughly 20% lower.

nejednakost nakon poreza u Francuskoj je otprilike 20 odsto niža.

Meanwhile, inheritance taxes can reduce the amount of wealth

U međuvremenu, porez na nasledstvo može da umanji količinu bogatstva

that a single family can amass over generations.

koje jedna porodica može da nagomila tokom generacija.

Germany and many other European countries have inheritance or estate taxes

Nemačka i mnoge druge evropske države imaju poreze na nasledstvo ili imovinu

that kick in at a few thousand to a few hundred thousand Euros,

koji iznose od nekoliko hiljada do nekoliko stotina hiljada evra,

depending on who's inheriting.

u zavisnosti od toga ko nasleđuje.

The US, on the other hand,

SAD, s druge strane,

lets you inherit $12 million without paying any federal tax.

dozvoljava vam da nasledite 12 miliona dolara

bez plaćanja federalnog poreza.

Another way is with transfers—

when the government takes tax revenues from one group of people

kada vlada uzima prihod od poreza od jedne grupe ljudi

and gives it to another.

i daje ga drugoj.

For example, Social Security programs tax people who work

Na primer, programi socijalnog osiguranja oporezuju ljude koji rade

and use the revenue to support retirees.

i koriste taj prihod da izdržavaju penzionere.

In Italy, about a quarter of Italians’ disposable household income

U Italiji oko četvrtine italijanskog prihoda domaćinstva

comes from government transfers.

dolazi iz vladinih prenosa.

That’s a lot, especially relative to the US,

To je mnogo, naročito u poređenju sa SAD-om,

where the figure is just over 5%.

gde je vrednost jedva preko pet procenata.

A third way is to ensure that everyone has access to things

Treći način je staranje da svako ima pristup stvarima

like education and healthcare.

poput obrazovanja i zdravstva.

A highly educated, healthy workforce can command a higher salary on the market,

Visokoobrazovana, zdrava radna snaga može zahtevati veću platu na tržištu

thus reducing inequality.

i time umanjiti nejednakost.

The fourth way is addressing the digital divide:

Četvrti način je bavljenje digitalnim jazom:

the gap between those who have access to the Internet and those who do not.

jazom između onih koji imaju pristup internetu i onih koji nemaju.

A fifth way is dealing with extreme wealth.

Peti način je bavljenje ekstremnim bogatstvom.

Multibillionaires can buy social media platforms,

Multimilijarderi mogu da kupuju platforme društvenih mreža,

news outlets, policy think-tanks, perhaps even politicians,

novine, trustove mozgova, pa čak i političare,

and bend them to their will,

i da ih podrede svojoj volji,

threatening the very fabric of democracy.

preteći time samom tkivu demokratije.

We are just barely scratching the surface of inequality here.

Ovde jedva da smo zagrebali površinu nejednakosti.

We haven’t touched on the drastic divides in who has wealth and who doesn’t;

Nismo dotakli drastične podele u tome ko ima bogastvo, a ko nema;

the power structures that prevent social and economic mobility;

strukture moći koje sprečavaju društvenu i ekonomsku mobilnost;

and the drastic inequality between countries—

kao i drastičnu nejednakost među državama -

the fact that, for example,

činjenicu da, na primer,

just three Americans have 90 billion more dollars than Egypt,

svega tri Amerikanca imaju 90 milijardi dolara više od Egipta,

a country of 100 million people.

države od sto miliona ljudi.

And here’s one final thing to think about: power and wealth are self-reinforcing,

A za kraj, još nešto za razmišljanje: moć i bogastvo se međusobno učvršćuju,

which means that equality is not.

a to znači ne i jednakost.

Left to their own devices, societies tend toward inequality—

Prepuštena sebi, društva naginju ka nejednakosti -

unless we weaken the feedback loops of wealth and power concentration.

ukoliko ne oslabimo povratne petlje koncentracije bogatstva i moći.