The question of income distribution is discussed in this chapter. Wheelan compares the economy to a pie. The government could distribute income evenly and lower economic growth, which would equal "a smaller pie more evenly divided" (Wheelan 75). Or, without income distribution, some people would be very wealthy while others are left quite poor, which would lead the average income to rise and the economy to grow. (This would create a bigger pie that is not evenly cut into pieces.)
There are many different opinions on this issue, and Wheelan states that the subject is more philosophical than economical. Most liberals believe that it is most important to help the desperately poor by providing them evenly distributed money. Wheelan reminds the reader, however, that "a growing pie, even if unequally divided, will almost always make even the small pieces larger" (Wheelan 76). And conservatives only appear interested in growing the economy. I think it is important for the government to focus both on helping to grow the economy and on working to help those suffering from the effects of poverty; I would fall somewhere in the middle of the liberalist and conservative ideas on this issue.
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