Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label mean household income

Middle Class Data Missing In Action In the Advanced Age of Data Management

TWEET THIS ARTiCLE USING THIS SHORT LINK  http://goo.gl/u2fKk0 My father often told me that in the 1950's , the distribution of wealth in the United States took the form of a bell curve with the greatest amount of wealth distributed amoungst the greatest number of people. I grew up with the bell curve image embedded into my mind . It is the image of an algorithm, a form of economic visualization which seems to have all but disappeared from the methods of reporting income distribution- replaced by graphs showing two lines- one for the top and the other for the bottom. The median household income displays statistics in two separate parts- Those making above the median and those making below the median and does not address the distribution of wealth within the two halves.The mean gives us the averaged income of a specific group- but none of that tells us how the wealth is distributed- is there a gradual curve of distribution? a series of steps? or a huge gulf between levels ? A