Money Changes Everything - The Challenges of Economic Inequality Among Friends

Posted in Demography, Politics/Economics, World on May 8th, 2006

Last Sunday’s New York Times Styles section has a great article inspired by the recent film, Money Changes Everything. It dives into the awkwardness of large economic disparities among friends, of all ages, which the article suggests are largely the result of two recent phenomena. The first is the very rapid income growth of the top 1% and even 5% percent of the population when most Americans are seeing their real wages stagnate or decline. The second is the much higher numbers of college students from lower-income households (even if, as a percentage of total students enrolled, this number is shrinking).

Perhaps surprisingly to some, the pressure to blend in among peers is intense and goes in both directions. There is probably the better known story of individuals like me who attended college on scholarships and students loans. Many of my friends drove cars my parents couldn’t afford. I left college with over $70k in college debt and $7,000 in credit card debt - much of that the result trying to keep up with my better financially off international friends.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those affluent students who prefer to simply blend in – feigning an inability pay for a taxi or brining up other gripes so as to not put off their less wealthy peers.

I highly recommend reading the full article here.

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