This series is going to be quick and dirty. At least for me.
As ruler of this nation, I want to eliminate core poverty and reduce inequality to a tolerable level. Core poverty is eliminated when all residents have access to housing, healthcare, nutrition, safety, and sufficient education/training to trade their cognitive and physical labor for goods and services in the form of money, which allows discretionary spending. By “safety” I mean protection from dangerous environments. In other words, having four walls is great but means little if you’re constantly worried about being robbed, poisoned by toxic water, or tripping on broken stairs. Not being poor doesn’t guarantee happiness, but it’s a start.
What do I mean by “inequality”? Here’s what I don’t mean: getting more or being in a higher income bracket than your parents. Besides measuring what is actually “more” (nope, simple monetary comparisons aren’t enough), why should each generation get more than the previous one? Sure, that was important when life was nasty, brutish, and short – but does it really matter now that one has more stuff than one’s parents?
What matters is a sense of control and hope within a lifetime. The feeling that through my actions, I can make progress towards something that matters to me. Self-efficacy! Not that I’m the master of my destiny – more that there are things I can do that will make it better.
So I’m going to take social mobility as an operationalized form of inequality. The type of social mobility that matters the most to me is the ability to move up the economic ladder during one’s lifetime. That is, I have the means to move forward and become more comfortable and secure.