Six Ways the Coronavirus Will Make Inequality Worse

In the years before coronavirus, inequality was looming larger in American policy discussions. Income and wealth inequality had been rising for decades. That was temporarily masked by the housing boom of the early 2000s, but the crash of 2008 put an end to such illusions. And with celebrity billionaires interacting ever more directly with average Americans on social media, these vast inequalities were becoming ever more glaringly apparent. Most measures show U.S. inequality at all-time highs. The commonly-used Gini Index is just one example:

Now the coronavirus pandemic threatens to make an already bad situation worse. Some have called the virus a great equalizer, because it can strike even the rich and powerful. But in terms of the long-term effect on economic outcomes, the disease is likely to be anything but an equalizer. Here are some of the ways that the pandemic will probably exacerbate inequality.