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60-708: The word derives from goð , meaning "god". It possibly appears in Ulfilas ' Gothic language translation of the Bible as gudja for "priest", although the corresponding form of this in Icelandic would have been an unattested * gyði . In Scandinavia , there is one surviving attestation in the Proto-Norse form gudija from the Norwegian Nordhuglo runestone ( Rundata N KJ65 U), and in

120-680: A goði , although he was free to choose which one—a goðorð was not a geographical unit. The goði would help his þingmenn to bring cases before the court and to enforce their rights, and the þingmenn would in return provide the goði with armed manpower for his feuds and carry out legal sentences. By the 13th century, all the goðorð were controlled by five or six families and often united under office holders who in modern studies are known as storgoðar ("great goðar ") or storhöfðingjar ("great chieftains"). These goðar struggled for regional and sometimes national power, and occasionally sought to become retainers for

180-556: A goðorð she had to leave the leadership to a man. The office was in many respects treated as private property but was not counted as taxable, and is defined in the Gray Goose Laws as "power and not wealth" ( veldi er þat en æigi fe ); nevertheless the goðar are frequently portrayed in the sagas as concerned with money and expected to be paid for their services. During the Icelandic Commonwealth,

240-482: A better standard of living. Seen for example in the work of John Rawls , another argument is that a truly fair society would be organized in a manner benefiting the least advantaged, and any inequality would be permissible only to the extent that it benefits the least advantaged. Some proponents of redistribution argue that capitalism results in an externality that creates unequal wealth distribution. Many economists have argued that wealth and income inequality are

300-405: A cause of economic crises , and that reducing these inequalities is one way to prevent or ameliorate economic crises, with redistribution thus benefiting the economy overall. This view was associated with the underconsumptionism school in the 19th century, now considered an aspect of some schools of Keynesian economics ; it has also been advanced, for different reasons, by Marxian economics . It

360-436: A current political infrastructure that addresses these issues. Modern thinking towards the topic of the redistribution of wealth, focuses on the concept that economic development increases the standard of living across an entire society. Today, income redistribution occurs in some form in most democratic countries, through economic policies. Some redistributive policies attempt to take wealth, income, and other resources from

420-505: A deceased person from closest family members and moving towards a more distant family. Son(s), daughter(s), wife, husband and parents are the prime recipients. This distribution is explicitly illustrated in Qur’an and cannot be changed or modified. Under varying conditions, the share received by different relatives accordingly changes. The important principle is that the owner at the time of his/her death cannot change these shares. The context that

480-489: A few years" but "longer growth spells are robustly associated with more equality in the income distribution." The Industrial Revolution led to increasing inequality among nations. Some economies took off, whereas others, like many of those in Africa or Asia, remained close to a subsistence standard of living. General calculations show that the 17 countries of the world with the most-developed economies had, on average, 2.4 times

540-447: A government predistribution policy might require employers to pay all employees a living wage and not just a minimum wage , as a "bottom-up" response to widespread income inequalities or high poverty rates. Many alternate taxation proposals have been floated without the political will to alter the status quo. One example is the proposed " Buffett Rule ", which is a hybrid taxation model composed of opposing systems intended to minimize

600-672: A local dignitary who was associated with a vé , which is a religious structure. It thus attaches the title to a simultaneously secular and religious upper strata . The most reliable sources about the goðar in Iceland are the Gray Goose Laws , the Landnámabók and the Sturlunga saga . After the settlement of Iceland , a hofgoði was usually a wealthy and respected man in his district, for he had to maintain

660-523: A lower social class tend to favor more redistributive policies than their counterparts born into a higher social class. Research has also found that women generally support redistribution more than men do, though the strength of this preference varies across countries. While literature remains mixed on if monetary gain is the true motivation behind favoring redistributive policies, most researchers accept that social class plays some role in determining someone's views towards redistributive policies. Nonetheless,

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720-420: A person is in can influence their views on redistributive policies. For example, despite both being Western civilizations, typical Americans and Europeans do not have the same views on redistribution policies. This phenomenon persists even among people who would benefit most from redistributive policies, as poor Americans tend to favor redistributive policy less than equally poor Europeans. Research shows this

780-446: A progressive system of taxation to achieve a certain level of income redistribution. In addition to the creation and implementation of these tax systems, "globalization of the world economy [has] provided incentives for reforming the tax systems" across the globe. Along with utilizing a system of taxation to achieve the redistribution of wealth, the same socio-economic benefit can be achieved if there are appropriate policies enacted within

840-505: A trickle-down effect, where the benefits of growth would eventually reach the poorest members of society. However, evidence began to emerge in the 1990s that challenged this notion and suggested that the link between economic growth and poverty reduction was not as strong as previously thought. This shift in thinking led to a reconsideration of the importance of addressing inequality in the pursuit of development. The redistribution of wealth and its practical application are bound to change with

900-484: Is a major instrument of restricting the excessive accumulation of wealth and helping the poor and most vulnerable members of the society, Secondly, usury , or charging interest , is prohibited. Elimination of interest from the economic system is a revolutionary step with profound effects on all spheres of economic activities. Finally, the Inheritance Law Of Islam is the distribution of the property of

960-413: Is alleged to counteract harm caused by high-income earners and the wealthy through means such as unfairness and discrimination. Redistribution tax policy should not be confused with predistribution policies. "Predistribution" is the idea that the state should try to prevent inequalities from occurring in the first place rather than through the tax and benefits system once they have occurred. For example,

1020-448: Is because when a society has a fundamental belief that those who work hard will earn rewards from their work, the society will favor lower redistributive policies. However, when a society as a whole believes that some combination of outside factors, such as luck or corruption, can contribute to determining one's wealth, those in the society will tend to favor higher redistributive policies. This leads to fundamentally different ideas of what

1080-463: Is immune to sorcery" or "he who does not engage in sorcery". The three Danish stones are all from Funen . The early Viking Age Helnæs and Flemløse 1 stones provide no details about the function of a guþi , but mention a guþi named Roulv whose name also appears on two other runestones, the lost Avnslev stone and the Flemløse 2 stone. The early 10th-century Glavendrup stone uses the term for

1140-411: Is much more equal than Western economies. Likewise, the socialist planned economies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc featured very little income redistribution because private capital and land income were restricted. To attain an efficient allocation of resources with the desired distribution of income, if the assumptions of the competitive model are satisfied by the economy, the sole role of

1200-575: Is often used as a priestly title by modern adherents of various denominations of Germanic neopaganism . Ulfilas Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 253047213 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:43:29 GMT Redistribution of wealth Redistribution of income and wealth

1260-419: Is one example. Medicare is a government-run health insurance program that covers people age 65 or older, certain younger people with disabilities, and people with end-stage renal disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant, sometimes called ESRD). This is a direct benefit program because the government is directly providing health insurance for those who qualify. The difference between

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1320-471: Is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property ) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation , welfare , public services , land reform , monetary policies , confiscation , divorce or tort law. The term typically refers to redistribution on an economy-wide basis rather than between selected individuals. Understanding of the phrase varies, depending on personal perspectives, political ideologies and

1380-478: Is ‘just’ or fair in these countries and influences their overall views on redistribution.   Another context that can influence one's ideas of redistributive policies is the social class that one is born into. People tend to favor redistributive policy that will help the groups that they are a member of.   This is displayed in a study of Latin American lawmakers, where it is shown that lawmakers born into

1440-464: The goðar as secular leaders is shown in how the word was used synonymously with höfðingi , meaning chieftain . Over time, and especially after 1000, when the Christian conversion occurred in Iceland , the term lost all religious connotations and came to mean liege-lord or chieftain of the Icelandic Commonwealth. A goðorð could be bought, shared, traded or inherited. If a woman inherited

1500-458: The goðorð of the descendants of Ingólfr Arnarson , the first Scandinavian to settle permanently in Iceland, had the ceremonial role of sanctifying the Althing each year, and was called the allsherjargoði ("all-people goði "). The followers of a goði were called þingmenn . Every free landowner in possession of a certain amount of property was required to be associated with

1560-524: The Gini index for the income distribution before taxation and the Gini index after taxation is an indicator for the effects of such taxation. Wealth redistribution can be implemented through land reform that transfers ownership of land from one category of people to another, or through inheritance taxes , land value taxes or a broader wealth tax on assets in general. Before-and-after Gini coefficients for

1620-663: The Norwegian king . The institution came to an end when the major goðar pledged fealty to king Haakon IV of Norway in 1262–1264, signing the Old Covenant , and the Norwegian crown abolished the goðorð system. In the early 1970s, the words goði , goðorð and allsherjargoði were adopted by the Icelandic neopagan organization Ásatrúarfélagið . Following this, goði , godi or gothi

1680-408: The distribution of wealth can be compared. Interventions like rent control can impose large costs. Some alternative forms of interventions, such as housing subsidies, may achieve comparable distributional objectives at less cost. If the government cannot costlessly redistribute, it should look for efficient ways of redistributing—that is, ways that reduce the costs as much as possible. This is one of

1740-419: The negative income tax for very low income earners and tax loopholes (tax avoidance) for the better-off. Two other common types of governmental redistribution of income are subsidies and vouchers (such as food stamps or Section-8 housing vouchers). These transfer payment programs are funded through general taxation, but benefit the poor or influential special interest groups and corporations. While

1800-526: The "haves" and give them to the "have-nots", but many redistributions go elsewhere. For example, the U.S. government's progressive-rate income tax policy is redistributive because much tax revenue goes to social programs such as welfare and Medicare . In a progressive income tax system, a high income earner will pay a higher tax rate (a larger percentage of their income) than a low income earner; and therefore, will pay more total dollars per person. Other taxation-based methods of redistributing income are

1860-445: The 1990s, the dominant view among development economists was that inequality in poor countries was a less pressing issue compared to ensuring sufficient growth, which was believed to be the primary means of reducing poverty. The policy recommendation for developing countries was clear: it was not possible to simultaneously decrease poverty and inequality. This perspective was based on the belief that economic growth would eventually lead to

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1920-519: The 50 states of the US, British researchers Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett show a correlation between income inequality and higher rates of health and social problems ( obesity , mental illness , homicides , teenage births , incarceration , child conflict, drug use), and lower rates of social goods ( life expectancy , educational performance, trust among strangers , women's status , social mobility , even numbers of patents issued per capita), on

1980-445: The Althing courts. When a court of appeals was established in the early 11th century, they also nominated judges for this court. Further, they had a few formal and informal executive roles, such as confiscating the property of outlaws. They also had a central role in the redistribution of wealth , by holding feasts, giving gifts, making loans, extending hospitality, as well as pricing and helping to distribute imported goods. The holder of

2040-599: The Eastern European economies has increased after moving from socialist controlled systems to market-based economies. For the Islamic distribution, the following are the three key elements of the Islamic Economic System, which have significant implications for the distribution of income and wealth (if fully implemented) and are markedly different from Capitalism. The Islamic system is defined by

2100-829: The GDP per capita of the world's poorest economies in 1870. By 1960, the most developed economies had 4.2 times the GDP per capita of the poorest economies. Regarding to GDP indicator, GDP has nothing to say about the level of inequality in society. GDP per capita is only an average. When GDP per capita rises by 5%, it could mean that GDP for everyone in the society has risen by 5%, or that GDP of some groups has risen by more while that of others has risen by less—or even declined. Public choice theory states that redistribution tends to benefit those with political clout to set spending priorities more than those in need, who lack real influence on government. The socialist economists John Roemer and Pranab Bardhan criticize redistribution via taxation in

2160-610: The Pale, guþi of the sanctuary , honourable þegn of the retinue. Inscription from the Glavendrup stone From the pagan era in mainland Scandinavia, the only sources for the title are runestones. The Norwegian Nordhuglo stone from around AD 400 seems to place the title in opposition to magic, using a word related to the Old Norse gandr . The inscription's Ek gudija ungandiz means "I, gudija " followed by "he who

2220-547: The Scandinavian countries, social democracy has been in decline since the labor movement weakened. Instead, Roemer and Bardhan argue that changing the patterns of enterprise ownership and market socialism , obviating the need for redistribution, would be more sustainable and effective at promoting egalitarianism. Marxian economists argue that social democratic reforms – including policies to redistribute income – such as unemployment benefits and high taxes on profits and

2280-566: The Twenty-First Century is at the forefront of the debate, mainly focusing on within-country concentration of income and wealth. Branko Milanovic provided evidence of increasing inequality at the global level, showing how the group of so-called "global plutocrats ", i.e. the richest 1% in the world income distribution, were the main beneficiaries of economic growth in the period 1988–2008. More recent analysis supports this claim, as 27% of total economic growth worldwide accrued to

2340-624: The ability and the right to say who was taxed and who received special treatment. Another early form of wealth redistribution occurred in Plymouth Colony under the leadership of William Bradford . Bradford recorded in his diary that this "common course" bred confusion, discontent, distrust, and the colonists looked upon it as a form of slavery. A closely related term, distributism (also known as distributionism or distributivism), refers to an economic ideology that developed in Europe in

2400-426: The classic theory that individual preferences for redistribution decrease with their income, leading to societal preferences for redistribution that increase with income inequality has been disputed. Perhaps the most important impact of government on the distribution of “wealth” is in the sphere of education—in ensuring that everyone has a certain amount of human capital . By providing all individuals, regardless of

2460-471: The communal hall or hof in which community religious observances and feasts were held. The office over which a goði had leadership was termed a goðorð , a word that only appears in Icelandic sources. Initially many independent goðorð were established, until they united under the Althing around 930. In 964, the system was fixed under a constitution that recognized 39 goðorð . The role of

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2520-414: The context of Nordic-style social democracy , reportedly highlighting its limited success at promoting relative egalitarianism and its lack of sustainability. They point out that social democracy requires a strong labor movement to sustain its heavy redistribution, and that it is unrealistic to expect such redistribution to be feasible in countries with weaker labor movements. They point out that, even in

2580-401: The continuous evolution of social norms, politics, and culture. Within developed countries income inequality has become a widely popular issue that has dominated the debate stage for the past few years. The importance of a nation's ability to redistribute wealth in order to implement social welfare programs, maintain public goods, and drive economic development has brought various conversations to

2640-418: The favoritism of special interests in tax design. The effects of a redistributive system are actively debated on ethical and economic grounds. The subject includes an analysis of its rationales, objectives, means, and policy effectiveness. In ancient times, redistribution operated as a palace economy . These economies were centrally based around the administration, meaning the dictator or pharaoh had both

2700-500: The following three key elements: Ushr and Zakat, the prohibition of usury, and the Inheritance Law. Ushr is an obligatory payment from agriculture output at the time of harvesting. If agricultural land is irrigated by rain or some other natural freely available water the producer is obliged to pay ten percent of the output as Ushr. In case irrigation water is not free of cost then the deduction would be five percent, while Zakat

2760-446: The funding of public services . One basis for redistribution is the concept of distributive justice , whose premise is that money and resources ought to be distributed in such a way as to lead to a socially just , and possibly more financially egalitarian , society. Another argument is that a larger middle class benefits an economy by enabling more people to be consumers , while providing equal opportunities for individuals to reach

2820-477: The government is to alter the initial distribution of wealth – the major drivers of income inequality in capitalist systems – was virtually nonexistent; and because the wage rates were set by the government in these economies. A comparison between Socialist and Capitalist Systems in terms of distribution of income is much easier as both these systems stand practically implemented in a number of countries under compatible political systems. Inequality in almost all

2880-749: The late 19th and early 20th century. It was based on the principles of Catholic social teaching , particularly the teachings of Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum and Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo Anno . More recently, Pope Francis echoed the earlier Papal statements in his Evangelii Gaudium . Different types of economic systems feature varying degrees of interventionism aimed at redistributing income, depending on how unequal their initial distributions are. Free-market capitalist economies tend to feature high degrees of income redistribution. However, Japan's government engages in much less redistribution because its initial wage distribution

2940-468: The later Old Norse form guþi from three Danish runestones: DR 190 Helnæs, DR 192 Flemløse 1 and DR 209 Glavendrup . There are a few placenames, such as Gudby in Södermanland , Sweden, that probably retain the name. Otherwise, there are no further surviving attestations except from Iceland where the goðar would be of historical significance. Ragnhildr placed this stone in memory of Alli

3000-429: The main concerns of the branch of economics called the economics of the public sector. One study suggests that "the middle class faces a paradoxical status" in that they tend to vote against income redistribution, even though they would benefit economically from it. The objectives of income redistribution are to increase economic stability and opportunity for the less wealthy members of society and thus usually include

3060-539: The other. The authors argue inequality leads to the social ills through the psychosocial stress , status anxiety it creates. A 2011 report by the International Monetary Fund by Andrew G. Berg and Jonathan D. Ostry found a strong association between lower levels of inequality and sustained periods of economic growth. Developing countries (such as Brazil, Cameroon, Jordan) with high inequality have "succeeded in initiating growth at high rates for

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3120-409: The persons receiving transfers from such programs may prefer to be directly given cash, these programs may be more palatable to society than cash assistance, as they give society some measure of control over how the funds are spent. Governmental redistribution of income may include a direct benefit program involving either cash transfers or the purchase of specific services for an individual. Medicare

3180-497: The political arena. A country's means of redistributing wealth comes from the implementation of a carefully thought out well described system of taxation. The implementation of such a system would aid in achieving the desired social and economic objective of diminishing social inequality and maximizing social welfare. There are various ways to impose a tax system that will help create a more efficient allocation of resources, in particular, many democratic, even socialist governments utilize

3240-464: The responsibilities of a goði or goðorðsmaður (" goðorð man") included the annual organization of the local assemblies várþing in the spring and leið in the autumn. At the national Althing, they were voting members of the Lögrétta , the legislative section of the assembly. When quarter courts were introduced in the 960s, the goðar became responsible for nominating judges for

3300-402: The selective use of statistics. It is frequently used in politics, to refer to perceived redistribution from those who have more to those who have less. Occasionally, albeit rarely, the term is used to describe laws or policies that cause redistribution in the opposite direction, from the poor to the rich. The phrase is sometimes related to the term class warfare , where the redistribution

3360-532: The top 1% of the world income distribution in the period 1980–2016. The approach underpinning these analyses has been critiqued in certain publications such as The Economist . Peter Singer 's argument contrasts to Thomas Pogge's in that he states we have an individual moral obligation to help the poor. The rich people who are living in the states with more redistribution, are more in favor of immigrants than poorer people, because this can make them pay less wages. Using statistics from 23 developed countries and

3420-413: The wealth of their parents, with a free basic education, government reduces the degree of inequality that otherwise would exist. Income inequality has many different connotations, three of which are of particular importance: The existence of high inequality within many developing countries , alongside persistent poverty , began to draw attention in the early 1970s. However, throughout the 1980s and into

3480-726: The wealthy create more contradictions in capitalism by further limiting the efficiency of the capitalist system via reducing incentives for capitalists to invest in further production. In the Marxist view, redistribution cannot resolve the fundamental issues of capitalism – only a transition to a socialist economy can. Income redistribution will lower poverty by reducing inequality, if done properly. But it may not accelerate growth in any major way, except perhaps by reducing social tensions arising from inequality and allowing poor people to devote more resources to human and physical asset accumulation. Directly investing in opportunities for poor people

3540-448: Was particularly advanced in the US in the 1920s by Waddill Catchings and William Trufant Foster . More recently, the so-called "Rajan hypothesis" posited that income inequality was at the basis of the explosion of the 2008 financial crisis. The reason is that rising inequality caused people on low and middle incomes, particularly in the US, to increase their debt to keep up their consumption levels with that of richer people. Borrowing

3600-494: Was particularly high in the housing market and deregulation in the financial sector made it possible to extend lending in sub-prime mortgages . The downturn in the housing market in 2007 halted this process and triggered the financial crisis . Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz , along with many others, supports this view. There is currently a debate concerning the extent to which the world's extremely rich have become richer over recent decades. Thomas Piketty 's Capital in

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