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Article: The hidden inequality in socialism.
- Article from:
- Independent Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Independent Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The collapse of the socialist regimes in eastern Europe and central Asia brought an unprecedented increase in economic freedom for hundreds of millions of people. Many people, however, still believe that their lives have become worse since the start of the transition. One apparent reason for this belief is a perceived increase in income inequality, a perception supported by income surveys. However, an analysis of these survey results shows that the argument that democratization led to a real increase in income inequality is weak and that the pretransition survey data are poor and biased in an unknown direction (Henderson, McNab, and Rozsas 2004).
Unfortunately, ...