Economics Talk Examines Income and Wealth Inequality in the UK and US

At a lunchtime economics talk on 29 March titled 'Is the Current Level of US and UK Income and Wealth Inequality Fair, Efficient and beneficial to Society's Welfare?', Upper School students were asked to consider whether income and wealth inequality is bad for society.

The guest speaker today was Dr Yaron Brook, the Israeli-American entrepreneur, writer, and activist. He is Chair of Ayn Rand Institute which promotes Objectivism, a concept that claims that the only social system which fully recognizes individual rights is capitalism, specifically what Rand described as "full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism".

What at first seemed like an unpopular and provocative statement, was broken down into basic terms and students heard the argument for the existence of wealth gaps and the creation of billionaires, and specifically about the economic and social advantages that come with them. He posed the question, "Who benefited the world, Bill Gates or Mother Theresa"? Dr Brook explained that whilst the work of Mother Theresa helped the poor and saved many lives, Bill Gates has raised the standard of living in India. So is inequality in and of itself a bad thing? "There is no economic theory that says that the wealth gap is bad" and our lives have improved beyond imagination because of innovation, scientists and entrepreneurs and industrialists creating factories and investing in production and we need to be grateful for that", said Dr Brook.

At the end of the talk, students asked about his thoughts on inequality and materialism and Dr Brook concluded that inequality is an inevitable feature of freedom. However, we must not focus on our inequality. He said is it wrong to compare ourselves to our neighbours and we should focus on making our lives the best lives that we can, based on our own standards. "Happiness can only come from living our best lives and maximizing our own potential vis à vis the values we have chosen for ourselves".