ABSTRACT
There are two points to this activity: first, to figure out what is meant by the word “quintile,” and, second, to point out that it is very difficult to construct consistent and meaningful measures of wealth and income.
Table 4.1 is adapted from one given by the US Census Bureau. What is the root meaning of the prefix “quint”? How many words can you come up with that start with “quint”? What is the meaning of the value 20,453 in the table? Be as specific as possible and make use of the number 117,538 in your answer. US household income distribution 2009 https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
No. of households (thousands)
Upper limit of each quintile (dollars)
Lowest
Second
Third
Fourth
Lower limit of top 5%
117,538
20,453
38,550
61,801
100,000
180,001
Note: Income in 2009 adjusted dollars.
Read this explanation of household income taken from Wikipedia, and give an example of a circumstance where household income might not be an accurate representation of wealth.
Household income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions, that counts the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support payments, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely. The residents of the household do not have to be related to the head of the household for their earnings to be considered part of the household’s income. As households tend to share a similar economic context, the use of household income remains among the most widely accepted measures of income. That the size of a household is not commonly taken into account in such measures may distort any analysis of fluctuations within or among the household income categories, and may render direct comparisons between quintiles difficult or even impossible.
(Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Household_Income" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Household_Income)