The 2015 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Science, Angus Deaton, says he loves income inequality — and he is terrified by it.
" Inequality is partly a marker of success, so that if someone thinks of something, some innovation that benefits us all, and the market works properly, they get richly rewarded for that," Deaton told the Wall Street Journal.
Innovation is good for society because it tends to benefit everyone, he says.
But income inequality also terrifies him.
Extreme wealth also begets extreme power, he says.
"Justice Louis Brandeis said a long time ago that you can't have an extreme distribution of income and democracy at the same time," he says.
Extreme wealth inequality also suggests that bright young minds, instead of working for social innovation, are doing whatever it takes to become wealthy.
Deaton won the Nobel Prize for his work on measuring economic security. He developed a tool called the Human Needs Index that focuses not just on money, but also access to services, such as health care.
Deaton's Human Needs Index includes seven types of assistance: meals, groceries, clothing and furniture, as well as help with housing, medical and energy bills.
