Some more equal than others
收入平等性的差異

Income inequality around the world
世界的收入不平等問題

NOT everyone agrees that income inequality is a problem to be solved. America and Britain are reckoned to have among the greatest inequality, among rich countries, as measured by the Gini coefficient. Such inequality may be associated with certain problems, for example a study produced last year by Unicef, the UN children’s agency, suggested that the two countries have particularly low levels of child wellbeing. For many ordinary Americans and Britons, however, social mobility and getting opportunities to prosper may be more important. Nordic countries, which are the most equal, regularly do well in happiness surveys. The highest levels of inequality are in poor countries, especially in South America and Africa.
并非所有人都認為收入不平等是一個需要解決的問題。按基尼系數計算，美英兩國都位于富裕國家里收入差距最大的幾個國家之列。收入不平等或許總伴有某些特定問題，比如聯合國兒童基金會去年發布的一份研究報告就指出，美英兩國的兒童福利水平很低。不過，對許多普通美國人和英國人來說，社會流動性和獲得飛黃騰達的機會或許更為重要。在社會幸福調查中，北歐國家一般表現較好，那里是世界上收入最平等的地區。收入最不平等的往往都是貧窮國家，特別是在南美和非洲地區