Economics Explained
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2021–2023
16:35 · 8M views · Nov 26, 2020
An Economics Explained video arguing that the Netherlands shows taxes alone can't reduce wealth inequality. It distinguishes income inequality from wealth inequality and discusses the Gini index.
HN uses it to explain the difference between income and wealth inequality, though some pair it with a rebuttal.
4 comments from Hacker News
All the same I would much, much, MUCH rather be poor in the Netherlands than the US. Just not having to operate a car would save tons. Also, not sure but this comment may be a reference to: How The Dutch Economy Shows We Can't Reduce Wealth Inequality With Taxes | Economics Explained this video and if you watch that it's well worth watching this Dutch economist's rebuttal The Dutch Economy is NOT the Most Unequal [LINK]
This is just a PSA for those comparing financial (in)equality between Europe and the USA: income inequality is different from wealth equality. Income inequality might be lower in Europe but apparently wealth inequality is relatively high. This video gives a good explanation about their difference: this video
From How The Dutch Economy Shows We Can't Reduce Wealth Inequality With Taxes : this video > The Netherlands skew falsely high on the GINI coefficient because house loans are insured by the state, causing many families to technically be in large debt, beyond the value of their houses. That makes it hard to trust the wealth numbers, e.g. things like "the top 10% of the country owns 60% of the wealth" (according to the OCED). The bottom 60% of the country owns "almost no" wealth. It also explains why, if you visit The Netherlands, it doesn't seem like it is struggling with inequality… Source: [LINK]
Sure, I'm not saying the housing market is in an especially healthy position, just that the Gini index measures the wrong thing. Its increase alarms people, but it just puts you higher on a list with relatively very equal social democracies at the top. They go into some more detail here: this video Note that I'm also not arguing that a large Gini index is good, it just measures something very specific that doesn't really say a lot about inequality.