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  • Blog posts 148
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Blog posts
1 - 30 of 148 results

The damaging effects of inequality

"If there is this big difference, with some people worth everything and other people worth nothing, where do you come?" So asks Richard Wilkinson in the trailer for the forthcoming documentary based on his influential book The Spirit Level. Wilkinson, an epidemiologist, spent his career examining health issues caused or worsened by poverty and i...
Posted June 28, 2013
https://ideas.ted.com/since-the-ted-talk-an-update-from-richard-wilkinson

Why is inequality the big hot issue right now?

Writer Jimmy Guterman takes society's temperature and digs into the reasons we're all talking about inequality. Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century is a book of our moment. It may be the most unlikely egghead highbrow bestseller since A Brief History of Time – and it’s a lot longer than Stephen Hawking’s slender guide. Piketty’s 577-...
Posted June 3, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/why-is-inequality-the-big-hot-issue-right-now

Gallery: What inequality looks like

Inequality is a complicated term. It can be applied to so many factors, for one thing. There's income inequality, asset inequality, gender inequality, social, class, political ... you name it, someone, somewhere likely feels (and is) hard done by. And, for all the focus that Thomas Piketty has gained for his analysis of a new, ever-diverging glo...
Posted June 3, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/gallery-what-inequality-looks-like

Playlist: The roots -- and effects -- of income inequality

Explore these TEDTalks that discuss income inequality -- what causes it, the brutal effects, and how we might fight it. Start with this talk from Richard Wilkinson, whose 2009 book The Spirit Level gathers decades of research to draw this conclusion: Societies with more income inequality suffer -- in utterly predictable ways -- more than soci...
Posted May 17, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/05/17/playlist-the-roots-and-effects-of-income-equality

The 4 biggest reasons why inequality is bad for society

It's safe to say that economic inequality bothers us. But why? Harvard philosopher T. M. Scanlon offers four reasons we should tackle -- and fix -- the problem. The great inequality of income and wealth in the world, and within the United States, is deeply troubling. It seems, even to many of us who benefit from this inequality, that somethin...
Posted June 3, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/the-4-biggest-reasons-why-inequality-is-bad-for-society

What does inequality do to our bodies and minds? A social psychologist and an epidemiologist discuss

What do a disease-fighting epidemiologist (retired) and an up-and-coming social psychologist have in common? They're both fascinated by the unseen social problems hidden behind the word "inequality."  Beyond the lack of access to money and power -- what does inequality do to us as human beings? Epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson (TED Talk: ...
Posted August 6, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/what-does-inequality-do-to-our-bodies-and-minds-a-social-psychologist-and-an-epidemiologist-discuss

The data shows we want to end inequality. Here's how to start ...

Rich and poor, left and right, we all agree the world should be more equal. Dan Ariely and Michael Norton have spent the past decade analyzing the data. Now, they tackle what to do next. Picture three people splitting an 8-piece pizza. How should they divide it? The possibilities are endless, from the very unequitable -- one person eats the who...
Posted April 30, 2015
https://ideas.ted.com/the-data-shows-we-want-to-end-inequality-heres-how-to-start

What toothbrushes tell us about inequality

Anna Rosling-Rönnlund collects photographs of everyday objects from the richest to the poorest households. Even a toothbrush, she says, can reveal a world of inequalities. Imagine if the world lived along a single street, with the richest households on one end, the poorest on the other -- and every door flung open to the public. That’s the visi...
Posted December 2, 2015
https://ideas.ted.com/what-our-toothbrushes-tell-us-about-inequality

To understand inequality, let’s play a game

After a long career as a game designer, Brenda Romero became an educator -- teaching the next generation of artists, coders and mechanics how to create the world’s most popular media form. A game is the tool she uses to think about problems, to explain, to put concepts into form. As she says: “This is all I’ve ever done. I've been a game des...
Posted June 3, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/lets-play-mexican-kitchen-workers

Could universal basic income end inequality? Maybe.

But these 3 alternative solutions could be faster ways to achieve increased opportunity, prosperity and equality. Universal basic income (UBI) is a provocative idea that’s enjoying a huge surge of attention right now. The concept is simple: a government would provide unconditional payments (proposed amounts range from $10,000 to $25,000 a year)...
Posted January 13, 2017
https://ideas.ted.com/will-universal-basic-income-end-inequality-maybe

What's to be done about rising inequality?

See all 8 articles in the series >>
Posted June 3, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/whats-to-be-done-about-rising-inequality

How economic inequality harms societies: Richard Wilkinson on TED.com

We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2011, July 2011, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Durat...
Posted October 24, 2011
https://blog.ted.com/2011/10/24/how-economic-inequality-harms-societies-richard-wilkinson-on-ted-com

Your weekend reading: A marathon to remember, income inequality a subway ride away

It's been a hard week for many Americans, as the Boston bombings continue to raise more and more questions. Here is some weekend reading as you await answers. A poignant ode to the city of Boston, its annual marathon and the victims of the April 15 bombings. [NY Review of Books Blog] Far, far away in another American city, income inequalit...
Posted April 19, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/04/19/your-weekend-reading-a-marathon-to-remember-income-inequality-a-subway-ride-away

How embroidery is helping women in Pakistan stand up to honor killings and inequality

Khalida Brohi (TED Talk: How I work to protect women from honor killings) grew up traveling between two very different parts of Pakistan: the bustling city of Karachi, where her parents moved so that she and her sisters could go to school, and a small village in Balochistan, where her family has its roots. Brohi got a modern education, and also ...
Posted October 9, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/how-embroidery-is-helping-women-in-pakistan-stand-up-to-honor-killings-and-inequality

"We quite suddenly realized that we were looking at a general pattern": Q&A with Richard Wilkinson

In 2009, epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett published the book The Spirit Level, making a bold case that economic inequality within a society, the size of the gap between rich and poor, has corrosive effects from the bottom of society right up to the top. Wilkinson spoke about their book and research this summer at TEDGlobal ...
Posted October 26, 2011
https://blog.ted.com/2011/10/26/we-quite-suddenly-realized-that-what-we-were-looking-at-was-a-general-pattern-qa-with-richard-wilkinson

Married and working together to solve inequality: Bill and Melinda Gates at TED2014

Chris Anderson invited Bill and Melinda Gates to the TED2014 stage for what turned out to be a personal and charming Q&A. This is an edited version of that conversation. Anderson began with the provocation, "On the basis that a picture's worth a thousand words, I asked them to dig from their archive to explain what they've done." The firs...
Posted March 18, 2014
https://blog.ted.com/2014/03/18/married-and-working-together-to-solve-inequality-bill-and-melinda-gates-at-ted2014

Powerful films from 5 young people: What health inequality looks like in the US

By Michael Painter.  For some of us, it's easy to choose to be healthy. We can’t control whether disease or accidents strike, but we can decide where we live and what we eat, as well as if, when and how much we’ll exercise. Some of us live in a culture of health — a time and place where, for the most part, we have the real hope and opportu...
Posted March 27, 2015
https://blog.ted.com/2015/03/27/powerful-films-from-5-young-people-what-health-inequality-looks-like-in-the-us

Fighting extremists and inequality: A playlist of talks about women’s education for Malala Day

“Let us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism. Let us pick up our books and our pens, and let us shield ourselves with unity and togetherness.” These were the words spoken by 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai, above, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 for advocating for girls’...
Posted July 15, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/07/15/fighting-extremists-and-inequality-a-playlist-of-talks-about-womens-education-for-malala-day

How small lies turn into big lies, what everyday objects tell us about inequality, and robots that lend a helping hand during disasters

Just a few of the intriguing headlines involving members of the TED community this week: The cascading effect of small lies. Tali Sharot is the senior author on a paper published in Nature Neuroscience that sheds light on the possible slippery-slope effect of telling small, self-serving lies. Using an fMRI scanning device to monitor the a...
Posted November 4, 2016
https://blog.ted.com/2016/11/04/how-small-lies-turn-into-big-lies-what-everyday-objects-tell-us-about-inequality-and-robots-that-lend-a-helping-hand-during-disasters

How did Nick Hanauer get onto TED's home page?!

There's a bit of a back story behind today's TED Talk, in which Nick Hanauer issues a powerful warning to his fellow zillionaire 'plutocrats' that it's time to take the inequality issue seriously, and makes the case to dramatically raise the minimum wage. Some of you may remember that two years ago there was an online spat between Nick and T...
Posted August 12, 2014
https://blog.ted.com/2014/08/12/how-did-nick-hanauer-get-onto-teds-home-page

2015 MacArthur ‘genius grant’ winners include two TED Fellows: Patrick Awuah and LaToya Ruby Frazier

The MacArthur Foundation revealed its list of 2015 Fellows this morning. Twenty-four people received the “genius grant,” a $625,000 no-strings-attached stipend -- and two of them are TED Fellows: Patrick Awuah and LaToya Ruby Frazier. Patrick Awuah founded Ashesi University, a college in his home country of Ghana dedicated to educating Af...
Posted September 29, 2015
https://blog.ted.com/2015/09/29/2015-macarthur-genius-grant-winners-include-two-ted-fellows-patrick-awuah-and-latoya-ruby-frasier

Thomas Piketty's “Capital in the Twenty-first Century” explained

A Piketty guide for lifelong learners. When Thomas Piketty’s "Capital in the Twenty-first Century” was published earlier this year, it was something of a sensation. That’s no small feat for a chart-heavy doorstop on “the dismal science” of economics. A fair portion of the book’s notoriety was due to its subject matter: wealth distribution, a...
Posted October 6, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-twenty-first-century-explained

Justice, capitalism and progress: Paul Tudor Jones II at TED2015

Can capital be just? As a firm believer in capitalism and the free market, Paul Tudor Jones II believes that it can be. Jones is the founder of the Tudor Investment Corporation and the Tudor Group, which trade in the fixed-income, equity, currency and commodity markets. He thinks it is time to expand the “narrow definitions of capitalism” th...
Posted March 18, 2015
https://blog.ted.com/2015/03/18/justice-capitalism-and-progress-paul-tudor-jones-ii-at-ted2015

Hacktivism at the World Cup

Hacking is a term that prompts intense emotions, as we’ve seen in recent years with the likes of Kevin Mitnick, Evgeniy Bogachev and Sabu. But one thing’s clear: hackers can draw attention to important issues like nobody’s business. And by exposing weaknesses in our current online systems, they often help the web both evolve and improve. Such fo...
Posted June 10, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/hacktivism-at-the-world-cup

What links the top 0.1 percent and the bottom billion? Rent

Paul Collier studies the poorest people on earth -- the 1 in 9 humans living in dysfunctional countries with broken economies, places whose income gaps are so wide it's hard for westerners to wrap their minds around it. In 2007, his book The Bottom Billion broke down the problems facing this group of people, stuck in failed and failing state...
Posted June 3, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/how-factory-jobs-and-natural-resources-can-improve-life-for-the-bottom-billion

The real price of market values: Michael Sandel at TEDGlobal 2013

Political philosopher Michael Sandel -- the second "Michael from Harvard" this session -- returns to TED in the last session of TEDGlobal, "All Together Now," to address the marketization of our culture. These days there's very little money can't buy. If you ever wind up in jail in San Diego, CA, and you find your cell uncomfortable, don'...
Posted June 14, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/06/14/the-real-price-of-market-values-michael-sandel-at-tedglobal-2013

Mark Ronson makes a cameo, Roxane Gay and Adam Grant discuss the pros and cons of social media, and much more

Please enjoy your roundup of TED-related news: This one’s for the boys. Mark Ronson takes a break from making music to have some fun in Charli XCX’s video for “Boys.” You’ll find him (suavely) combing his hair, amid scenes of other male celebs, such as Wiz Khalifa, Riz Ahmed and Joe Jonas having a pillow fight or cuddling with puppies, in...
Posted August 9, 2017
https://blog.ted.com/2017/08/09/mark-ronson-makes-a-cameo-roxane-gay-and-adam-grant-discuss-the-pros-and-cons-of-social-media-and-much-more

Is growth over? Robert J. Gordon at TED2013

Could US economic growth be over? That's the provocative question that economist Robert J. Gordon begins with. And it's a big question. He points to travel: In 1900 travel was via the open buggy, at 1% the speed of sound. Sixty years later we travelled at 80% of the speed of sound in a Boeing 707. And since then, at a consumer level, we haven'...
Posted February 26, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/02/26/is-growth-over-robert-j-gordon-at-ted2013

Why cities rule the world

Cities are the the 21st century’s dominant form of civilization -- and they're where humanity's struggle for survival will take place. Robert Muggah and Benjamin Barber spell out the possibilities. Half the planet's population lives in cities. They are the world's engines, generating four-fifths of the global GDP. There are over 2,100 cities wi...
Posted May 31, 2016
https://ideas.ted.com/why-cities-rule-the-world

The age of global plutocracy: Chrystia Freeland at TEDGlobal 2013

The most important economic fact of our time, says Chrystia Freeland, author of Plutocrats, is that we are living in an age of surging income inequality, a global phenomenon that includes the US and UK, certainly, but also Communist China, India, and, she says, "we're even seeing it cozy social democracies like Sweden, Finland and Germany." ...
Posted June 12, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/06/12/the-age-of-global-plutocracy-chrystia-freeland-at-tedglobal-2013
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