Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

59. Correlations between GDP and happiness: Helliwell, Layard, & Sachs 2016; Stevenson & Wolfers 2008a; Veenhoven 2010; see also chapter 18. Correlation with IQ gains: Pietschnig & Voracek 2015; see also chapter 16.

60. Composite measures of national well-being: Land, Michalos, & Sirgy 2012; Prados de la Escosura 2015; van Zanden et al. 2014; Veenhoven 2010; Porter, Stern, & Green 2016; see also chapter 16.

61. GDP as cause of peace, stability, and liberal values: Brunnschweiler & Lujala 2015; Hegre et al. 2011; Prados de la Escosura 2015; van Zanden et al. 2014; Welzel 2013; see also chapters 11, 14, and 15.

CHAPTER 9: INEQUALITY

1. Plotted by the now-defunct New York Times Chronicle tool, http://nytlabs.com/projects/chronicle.html, retrieved Sept. 19, 2016.

2. “Bernie Quotes for a Better World,” http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/bernie8.htm.

3. Inequality in the Anglosphere vs. the rest of the developed world: Roser 2016k.

4. Gini data taken from Roser 2016k, originally from OECD 2016; note that exact values vary depending on the source. The World Bank’s Povcal, for example, estimates a less extreme change, from .38 in 1986 to .41 in 2013 (World Bank 2016d). Income share data from the World Wealth and Income Database, http://www.wid.world/. For a comprehensive dataset, see The Chartbook of Economic Inequality, Atkinson et al. 2017.

5. The trouble with inequality: Frankfurt 2015. Other inequality skeptics: Mankiw 2013; McCloskey 2014; Parfit 1997; Sowell 2015; Starmans, Sheskin, & Bloom 2017; Watson 2015; Winship 2013; S. Winship, “Inequality Is a Distraction. The Real Issue Is Growth,” Washington Post, Aug. 16, 2016.

6. Frankfurt 2015, p. 7.

7. According to the World Bank 2016c, global GDP per capita grew in every year from 1961 to 2015 except 2009.

8. Piketty 2013, p. 261. Problems with Piketty: Kane 2016; McCloskey 2014; Summers 2014a.

9. Nozick on income distributions: Nozick 1974. His example was the basketball great Wilt Chamberlain.

10. J. B. Stewart, “In the Chamber of Secrets: J. K. Rowling’s Net Worth,” New York Times, Nov. 24, 2017.

11. Social comparison theory comes from Leon Festinger; the theory of reference groups comes from Robert Merton and from Samuel Stouffer. See Kelley & Evans 2016 for a review and citations.

12. Amartya Sen (1987) makes a similar argument.

13. Wealth and happiness: Stevenson & Wolfers 2008a; Veenhoven 2010; see also chapter 18.

14. Wilkinson & Pickett 2009.

15. Problems with The Spirit Level: Saunders 2010; Snowdon 2010, 2016; Winship 2013.

16. Inequality and subjective well-being: Kelley & Evans 2016. See chapter 18 for an explanation of how happiness is measured.

17. Starmans, Sheskin, & Bloom 2017.

18. Ethnic minorities perceived as cheaters: Sowell 1980, 1994, 1996, 2015.

19. Skepticism on inequality causing economic and political dysfunction: Mankiw 2013; McCloskey 2014; Winship 2013; S. Winship, “Inequality Is a Distraction. The Real Issue Is Growth,” Washington Post, Aug. 16, 2016.

20. Influence-peddling versus inequality: Watson 2015.

21. Sharing meat, keeping plant foods: Cosmides & Tooby 1992.

22. Inequality and awareness of inequality are universal: Brown 1991.

23. Hunter-gatherer inequality: Smith et al. 2010. The average excludes questionable forms of “wealth” such as reproductive success, grip strength, weight, and sharing partners.

24. Kuznets 1955.

25. Deaton 2013, p. 89.

26. Some, but not all, of the increase in between-country inequality from 1820 to 1970 can be attributed to the larger number of countries in the world; Branko Milanović, personal communication, April 16, 2017.

27. War as leveler: Graham 2016; Piketty 2013; Scheidel 2017.

28. Scheidel 2017, p. 444.

29. History of social spending: Lindert 2004; van Bavel & Rijpma 2016.

30. Egalitarian Revolution: Moatsos et al. 2014, p. 207.

31. Social spending as a proportion of GDP: OECD 2014.

32. Change in mission of government (particularly in Europe): Sheehan 2008.

33. In particular, in environmental protection (chapter 10), gains in safety (chapter 12), the abolition of capital punishment (chapter 14), the rise of emancipative values (chapter 15), and overall human development (chapter 16).

34. Social spending by employers: OECD 2014.

35. Reported by Rep. Robert Inglis (R-S.C.), P. Rucker, “Sen. DeMint of S.C. Is Voice of Opposition to Health-Care Reform,” Washington Post, July 28, 2009.

36. Wagner’s Law: Wilkinson 2016b.

37. Social spending in developing countries: OECD 2014.

38. Prados de la Escosura 2015.

39. No libertarian paradises: M. Lind, “The Question Libertarians Just Can’t Answer,” Salon, June 4, 2013; Friedman 1997. See also chapter 21, note 40.

40. Willingness to have a welfare state: Alesina, Glaeser, & Sacerdote 2001; Peterson 2015.