ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Richard Wilkinson - Public health researcher
In "The Spirit Level," Richard Wilkinson charts data that proves societies that are more equal are healthier, happier societies.

Why you should listen

For decades, Richard Wilkinson has studied the social effects of income inequality and how social forces affect health. In The Spirit Level, a book coauthored with Kate Pickett, he lays out reams of statistical evidence that, among developed countries, societies that are more equal – with a smaller income gap between rich and poor -- are happier and healthier than societies with greater disparities in the distribution of wealth.

While poverty has long been recognized as an indicator for such social ills as crime, obesity, teen pregnancy, Wilkinson and Pickett have demonstrated that societal well-being bears no relation to per capita income. They’ve also found that the symptoms of inequality trouble all levels of society. Across the board, mental health, levels of violence and addiction, even life expectancy are affected by the psycho-social stress caused by income gaps and status anxiety.

In the UK, The Spirit Level won support from politicians both left and right. Wilkinson, who is Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, also cofounded The Equality Trust, a nonprofit that aims to reduce income inequality by educating and engaging the public while supporting political commitment to address the problem.

He says: "While I'd always assumed that an equal society must score better on social cohesion, I never expected to find such clear differences between existing market economies."

NEW: Read the TED Blog's Q&A with Richard Wilkinson >>

More profile about the speaker
Richard Wilkinson | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies

Richard Wilkinson: Como as desigualdades danan as sociedades

Filmed:
3,198,950 views

Todos percibimos que ás sociedades con maior desigualdade vailles peor. Richard Wilkinson describe datos duros sobre desigualdade económica, e mostra como isto produce as peores consecuencias cando ricos e pobres están máis distantes: efectos reais sobre a saúde, e mesmo sobre valores tan básicos como a confianza.
- Public health researcher
In "The Spirit Level," Richard Wilkinson charts data that proves societies that are more equal are healthier, happier societies. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
You all know the truth of what I'm going to say.
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Xa saben o que lles vou dicir.
00:18
I think the intuition that inequality is divisive and socially corrosive
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Creo que a idea de que a desigualdade
destrúe a sociedade
00:22
has been around since before the French Revolution.
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é mesmo previa á Revolución Francesa
00:26
What's changed
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O que cambiou foi que
00:28
is we now can look at the evidence,
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hoxe temos evidencias,
00:30
we can compare societies, more and less equal societies,
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podemos comparar sociedades distintas
00:33
and see what inequality does.
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e observar o que fai a desigualdade.
00:36
I'm going to take you through that data
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Voulles mostrar esa información
00:39
and then explain why
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e logo explicareilles por que
00:41
the links I'm going to be showing you exist.
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existen esas asociacións.
00:45
But first, see what a miserable lot we are.
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Pero primeiro, vexamos como somos.
00:48
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
00:50
I want to start though
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Quero comezar
00:52
with a paradox.
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cun paradoxo:
00:55
This shows you life expectancy
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esta figura mostra a esperanza de vida
00:57
against gross national income --
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fronte ao Produto Interior Bruto,
00:59
how rich countries are on average.
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a riqueza dos países.
01:01
And you see the countries on the right,
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Os países situados á dereita
01:03
like Norway and the USA,
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como Noruega e EEUU
01:05
are twice as rich as Israel, Greece, Portugal on the left.
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son o dobre de ricos ca Israel,
Grecia, Portugal
01:10
And it makes no difference to their life expectancy at all.
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E isto non afecta á súa esperanza de vida
01:14
There's no suggestion of a relationship there.
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Non hai nada que suxira correlación.
01:16
But if we look within our societies,
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Pero se ollamos dentro da sociedade,
01:19
there are extraordinary social gradients in health
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existen múltiples gradientes de saúde
01:22
running right across society.
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atravesando a sociedade.
01:24
This, again, is life expectancy.
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De novo aparece a esperanza de vida.
01:26
These are small areas of England and Wales --
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Estas son pequenas rexións do Reino Unido
01:28
the poorest on the right, the richest on the left.
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--as pobres á dereita, ricas á esquerda--
01:32
A lot of difference between the poor and the rest of us.
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Hai gran diferenza entre elas.
01:35
Even the people just below the top
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Mesmo as persoas que viven na segunda
01:37
have less good health
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teñen peor saúde
01:39
than the people at the top.
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que as que viven na rexión máis rica.
01:41
So income means something very important
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Por tanto os ingresos son importantes
01:43
within our societies,
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dentro dunha sociedade
01:45
and nothing between them.
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e nada entre sociedades.
01:48
The explanation of that paradox
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A explicación deste paradoxo
01:51
is that, within our societies,
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é que dentro dunha sociedade
01:53
we're looking at relative income
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somos conscientes da nosa posición,
01:55
or social position, social status --
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do noso estatus social,
01:58
where we are in relation to each other
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ao relacionarnos uns con outros,
02:01
and the size of the gaps between us.
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e somos conscientes do tamaño da fenda.
02:04
And as soon as you've got that idea,
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E unha vez entendida esta idea
02:06
you should immediately wonder:
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inmediatamente deberiamos preguntarnos:
02:08
what happens if we widen the differences,
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Que sucede se ampliamos esas diferenzas,
02:11
or compress them,
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ou se as eliminamos,
02:13
make the income differences bigger or smaller?
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reducindo ou incrementando as diferenzas?
02:15
And that's what I'm going to show you.
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Iso é o que quero mostrarlles.
02:18
I'm not using any hypothetical data.
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Non utilizamos información inventada.
02:20
I'm taking data from the U.N. --
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Utilizamos os datos da ONU,
02:22
it's the same as the World Bank has --
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os mesmos que ten o Banco Mundial,
02:24
on the scale of income differences
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da escala de diferenzas en ingresos
02:26
in these rich developed market democracies.
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nos mercados democráticos ricos.
02:29
The measure we've used,
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A medida que utilizamos,
02:31
because it's easy to understand and you can download it,
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por ser sinxela e accesible,
02:33
is how much richer the top 20 percent
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é canto máis rico é o 20% máis rico
02:35
than the bottom 20 percent in each country.
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fronte ao 20% máis pobre de cada país.
02:38
And you see in the more equal countries on the left --
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Os países máis equitativos á esquerda:
02:41
Japan, Finland, Norway, Sweden --
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o 20% máis rico son 3-4 veces máis ricos
02:43
the top 20 percent are about three and a half, four times as rich
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--Xapón, Finlandia, Noruega, Suecia--
02:45
as the bottom 20 percent.
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que o 20% menos rico
02:48
But on the more unequal end --
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Pero no extremo máis desigual
02:50
U.K., Portugal, USA, Singapore --
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--Reino Unido, EEUU e Singapur--
02:52
the differences are twice as big.
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as diferenzas son o dobre de grandes.
02:55
On that measure, we are twice as unequal
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Nesta medida, somos o dobre de desiguais
02:58
as some of the other successful market democracies.
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que outros mercados democráticos exitosos.
03:02
Now I'm going to show you what that does to our societies.
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Agora, voulles mostrar o efecto.
03:06
We collected data on problems with social gradients,
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Recompilamos información sobre
problemas con gradiente social;
03:09
the kind of problems that are more common
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o tipo de problemas máis comúns
03:11
at the bottom of the social ladder.
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nas clases sociais máis baixas.
03:13
Internationally comparable data on life expectancy,
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Información sobre esperanza de vida,
03:16
on kids' maths and literacy scores,
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notas dos nenos en mates, alfabetización,
03:19
on infant mortality rates, homicide rates,
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mortalidade infantil, homicidios,
03:22
proportion of the population in prison, teenage birthrates,
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poboación en prisión,
embarazos adolescentes,
03:25
levels of trust,
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os niveis de confianza entre os cidadáns,
03:27
obesity, mental illness --
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a obesidade, a enfermidade mental;
03:29
which in standard diagnostic classification
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que na clasificación estándar
03:32
includes drug and alcohol addiction --
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inclúe dependencia de drogas e alcohol
03:34
and social mobility.
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e datos de ascenso social.
03:36
We put them all in one index.
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Creamos un índice único
03:39
They're all weighted equally.
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Todo os datos tiña igual peso no índice
03:41
Where a country is is a sort of average score on these things.
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03:44
And there, you see it
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E podemos observar
03:46
in relation to the measure of inequality I've just shown you,
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en relación á medida de desigualdade
03:49
which I shall use over and over again in the data.
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03:52
The more unequal countries
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que aos países máis desiguais
03:54
are doing worse
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vailles peor
03:56
on all these kinds of social problems.
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neste tipo de problemas sociais.
03:58
It's an extraordinarily close correlation.
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Existe una correlación elevadísima.
04:01
But if you look at that same index
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Pero se miramos o mesmo índice
04:03
of health and social problems
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de problemas sociais e de saúde
04:05
in relation to GNP per capita,
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o produto nacional bruto,
04:07
gross national income,
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non hai nada,
04:09
there's nothing there,
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non hai correlación.
04:11
no correlation anymore.
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en relación ao PIB per cápita.
04:14
We were a little bit worried
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Estabamos un poco preocupados
04:16
that people might think
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de que se pensara que
04:18
we'd been choosing problems to suit our argument
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elixiramos os problemas para que casara,
04:20
and just manufactured this evidence,
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que amañaramos a evidencia,
04:23
so we also did a paper in the British Medical Journal
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así que tamén publicamos no BMJ
04:26
on the UNICEF index of child well-being.
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utilizando o criterio da UNICEF.
04:30
It has 40 different components
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Este criterio ten 40 compoñentes distintos
04:32
put together by other people.
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definidos por outras persoas.
04:34
It contains whether kids can talk to their parents,
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Mide se os nenos conversan con seus pais,
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whether they have books at home,
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se teñen libros na casa,
04:39
what immunization rates are like, whether there's bullying at school.
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a taxa de inmunización, o acoso escolar.
04:42
Everything goes into it.
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Todo está incluído.
04:44
Here it is in relation to that same measure of inequality.
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Aquí está a relación
04:48
Kids do worse in the more unequal societies.
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Os nenos están peor en sociedades
máis desiguais
04:51
Highly significant relationship.
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E a relación é significativa.
04:54
But once again,
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Pero unha vez máis,
04:56
if you look at that measure of child well-being,
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se observamos o benestar infantil
04:59
in relation to national income per person,
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en relación ao ingreso por persoa ano,
05:01
there's no relationship,
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non hai relación.
05:03
no suggestion of a relationship.
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Nada de nada.
05:06
What all the data I've shown you so far says
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O que mostra a información
05:09
is the same thing.
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é o mesmo.
05:11
The average well-being of our societies
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O benestar das nosas sociedades
05:13
is not dependent any longer
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xa non depende
05:16
on national income and economic growth.
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do PIB ou do crecemento económico.
05:19
That's very important in poorer countries,
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Iso é moi importante nos países pobres,
05:21
but not in the rich developed world.
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pero non no mundo desenvolvido.
05:24
But the differences between us
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Sen embargo, as diferenzas entre nós,
05:26
and where we are in relation to each other
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a nosa posición relativa
05:28
now matter very much.
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importan moitísimo.
05:31
I'm going to show you some of the separate bits of our index.
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Voulles mostrar as partes do noso índice.
05:34
Here, for instance, is trust.
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Aquí, por exemplo, está a confianza.
05:36
It's simply the proportion of the population
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É simplemente a porcentaxe da poboación
05:38
who agree most people can be trusted.
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que concorda que se pode confiar na xente
05:40
It comes from the World Values Survey.
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Este dato procede das enquisas de WVS.
05:42
You see, at the more unequal end,
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Nos países con maior desigualdade,
05:44
it's about 15 percent of the population
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ao redor do 15% da poboación
05:47
who feel they can trust others.
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sente que pode confiar nos demais.
05:49
But in the more equal societies,
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Pero en sociedades máis igualitarias,
05:51
it rises to 60 or 65 percent.
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esta porcentaxe sobe ata o 60% ou 65%.
05:55
And if you look at measures of involvement in community life
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E se miramos a participación social
05:58
or social capital,
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ou capital social,
06:00
very similar relationships
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hai relacións moi semellantes,
06:02
closely related to inequality.
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gran correlación coa desigualdade.
06:05
I may say, we did all this work twice.
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Fixemos estas análises 2 veces,
06:08
We did it first on these rich, developed countries,
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primeiro nos países ricos e desenvolvidos,
06:11
and then as a separate test bed,
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e logo como un banco de probas,
06:13
we repeated it all on the 50 American states --
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repetímola nos 50 estados dos EEUU;
06:16
asking just the same question:
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facéndonos a mesma pregunta:
06:18
do the more unequal states
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Vailles peor aos estados máis desiguais
06:20
do worse on all these kinds of measures?
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en todos estes tipos de medidas?
06:22
So here is trust from a general social survey of the federal government
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Aquí vese a confianza
06:26
related to inequality.
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relacionada coa desigualdade.
06:28
Very similar scatter
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Un diagrama moi parecido
06:30
over a similar range of levels of trust.
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por riba de niveis similares de confianza.
06:32
Same thing is going on.
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Sucede o mesmo.
06:34
Basically we found
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Básicamente encontramos
06:36
that almost anything that's related to trust internationally
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que casi calquera todo
06:39
is related to trust amongst the 50 states
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se relaciona coa confianza nos 50 estados
06:41
in that separate test bed.
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nese banco de probas.
06:43
We're not just talking about a fluke.
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Non estamos falando de mera casualidade.
06:45
This is mental illness.
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Isto son enfermidades mentais.
06:47
WHO put together figures
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A OMS confecciona índices
06:49
using the same diagnostic interviews
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utilizando as mesmas entrevistas
06:51
on random samples of the population
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con mostras aleatorias da poboación
06:53
to allow us to compare rates of mental illness
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que permiten comparar a enfermidade mental
06:56
in each society.
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en cada sociedade.
06:58
This is the percent of the population
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Esta é a porcentaxe da poboación
07:00
with any mental illness in the preceding year.
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con enfermidade mental no último ano.
07:03
And it goes from about eight percent
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E varía desde un 8%
07:06
up to three times that --
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ata 3 veces esa porcentaxe;
07:08
whole societies
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con 5 veces máis enfermidade mental,
07:10
with three times the level of mental illness of others.
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sociedades enteiras.
07:13
And again, closely related to inequality.
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E de novo, relacionado coa desigualdade.
07:17
This is violence.
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Isto é a violencia.
07:19
These red dots are American states,
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Eses puntos vermellos son estados de EEUU,
07:21
and the blue triangles are Canadian provinces.
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os triángulos azuis, provincias de Canadá.
07:25
But look at the scale of the differences.
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Pero miren a escala de diferenzas.
07:28
It goes from 15 homicides per million
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Varía desde 15 homicidios por millón
07:31
up to 150.
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ata 150.
07:34
This is the proportion of the population in prison.
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Esta é a porcentaxe de presos.
07:37
There's a about a tenfold difference there,
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Aquí hai una diferenza dez veces maior,
07:40
log scale up the side.
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rexistrada na escala deste lado.
07:42
But it goes from about 40 to 400
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Pero aumenta de 40 a 400
07:44
people in prison.
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persoas en prisión.
07:47
That relationship
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A relación
07:49
is not mainly driven by more crime.
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non é impulsada por máis crimes.
07:51
In some places, that's part of it.
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Nalgúns casos, pode ser debido a isto
07:54
But most of it is about more punitive sentencing,
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pero na maioría dos casos,
07:56
harsher sentencing.
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son penas máis duras.
07:58
And the more unequal societies
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E as sociedades máis desiguais
08:00
are more likely also to retain the death penalty.
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son tamén as que manteñen a pena de morte.
08:04
Here we have children dropping out of high school.
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Os nenos que abandoan a secundaria.
Novamente, grandes diferenzas.
08:09
Again, quite big differences.
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08:11
Extraordinarily damaging,
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Extraordinariamente daniñas,
08:13
if you're talking about using the talents of the population.
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se atendemos a maximizar o talento.
08:16
This is social mobility.
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A mobilidade social.
08:19
It's actually a measure of mobility
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Trátase dunha medida de mobilidade social
08:21
based on income.
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baseada nos ingresos.
08:23
Basically, it's asking:
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Fundamentalmente é como preguntar:
08:25
do rich fathers have rich sons
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Os pais ricos teñen fillos ricos
08:27
and poor fathers have poor sons,
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e os pais pobres teñen fillos pobres
08:29
or is there no relationship between the two?
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ou quizais non hai ningunha relación?
08:32
And at the more unequal end,
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No extremo máis desigual,
08:34
fathers' income is much more important --
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o ingreso do pai é moito máis importante,
08:37
in the U.K., USA.
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no Reino Unido, en Estados Unidos...
08:40
And in Scandinavian countries,
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E nos países escandinavos
08:42
fathers' income is much less important.
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o ingreso do pai é moito menos importante.
08:44
There's more social mobility.
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Hai máis mobilidade social.
08:47
And as we like to say --
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Temos moitos americanos no público,
08:49
and I know there are a lot of Americans in the audience here --
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se queren vivir "o soño americano"
08:52
if Americans want to live the American dream,
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08:55
they should go to Denmark.
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deberían mudarse a Dinamarca
08:57
(Laughter)
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(Risas)
08:59
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
09:03
I've shown you just a few things in italics here.
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Mostreilles algunhas cousas.
09:06
I could have shown a number of other problems.
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Podería ensinarlles outras.
09:08
They're all problems that tend to be more common
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Todos problemas moito máis frecuentes
09:10
at the bottom of the social gradient.
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na parte inferior da pendente social.
09:12
But there are endless problems with social gradients
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Hai moitos
09:17
that are worse in more unequal countries --
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que son peores nos países máis desiguais,
09:19
not just a little bit worse,
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non só un pouco peores
09:21
but anything from twice as common to 10 times as common.
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senón moito máis frecuentes.
09:24
Think of the expense,
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Pensen no gasto,
09:26
the human cost of that.
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no custo humano diso.
09:29
I want to go back though to this graph that I showed you earlier
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Quero volver sobre o gráfico anterior
09:31
where we put it all together
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onde mostramos a información
09:33
to make two points.
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para demostrar 2 cousas.
09:35
One is that, in graph after graph,
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Unha é que, gráfico tras gráfico,
09:38
we find the countries that do worse,
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descubrimos que os países aos
que lles vai peor,
09:40
whatever the outcome,
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independentemente dos seus ingresos,
09:42
seem to be the more unequal ones,
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parecen ser os máis desiguais,
09:44
and the ones that do well
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e aos que lles vai ben
09:46
seem to be the Nordic countries and Japan.
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soen ser países nórdicos e Xapón.
09:49
So what we're looking at
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Entón o que observamos
09:51
is general social disfunction related to inequality.
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é a disfunción social xeral relacionada
coa desigualdade.
09:54
It's not just one or two things that go wrong,
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E non só van mal unha ou dúas cousas,
09:56
it's most things.
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son a maioría.
09:58
The other really important point I want to make on this graph
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A outra cousa importante que quero
mostrarlles neste gráfico
10:01
is that, if you look at the bottom,
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é que, se se mira a parte inferior,
10:03
Sweden and Japan,
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Suecia e Xapón,
10:06
they're very different countries in all sorts of ways.
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son países moi distintos.
10:09
The position of women,
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O papel da muller,
10:11
how closely they keep to the nuclear family,
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a súa proximidade ao núcleo familiar,
10:13
are on opposite ends of the poles
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están nos polos opostos,
10:15
in terms of the rich developed world.
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considerando o mundo rico e desenvolvido.
10:17
But another really important difference
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Pero a outra diferenza moi importante
10:19
is how they get their greater equality.
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é como logran a igualdade.
10:22
Sweden has huge differences in earnings,
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Suecia ten gran diferenza nos ingresos,
10:25
and it narrows the gap through taxation,
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e reduce esa fenda a través de impostos,
10:27
general welfare state,
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asistencia social xeral,
10:29
generous benefits and so on.
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grandes beneficios sociais e demais.
10:32
Japan is rather different though.
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Sen embargo Xapón é un pouco diferente.
10:34
It starts off with much smaller differences in earnings before tax.
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Ten diferenzas de ingresos moito menores
antes de impostos.
10:37
It has lower taxes.
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Pero ten impostos máis baixos.
10:39
It has a smaller welfare state.
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Ten unha menor asistencia social.
10:41
And in our analysis of the American states,
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E na nosa análise en EEUU,
10:43
we find rather the same contrast.
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descubrimos o mesmo contraste.
10:45
There are some states that do well through redistribution,
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Algúns estados redistribuén máis,
10:48
some states that do well
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e outros estados teñen éxito
10:50
because they have smaller income differences before tax.
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porque teñen menor diferenza de ingresos
antes de impostos.
10:53
So we conclude
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Entón concluímos
10:55
that it doesn't much matter how you get your greater equality,
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que non importa cómo se chega á igualdade,
10:58
as long as you get there somehow.
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sempre e cando se chegue dalgún xeito.
11:00
I am not talking about perfect equality,
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Non estou falando da igualdade perfecta.
11:02
I'm talking about what exists in rich developed market democracies.
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Falo da que existe en mercados ricos.
11:08
Another really surprising part of this picture
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Outro aspecto sorprendente desta imaxe
é que non son só os pobres
11:13
is that it's not just the poor
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11:15
who are affected by inequality.
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os afectados pola desigualdade.
Hai algo de certo na frase de John Donne
11:18
There seems to be some truth in John Donne's
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11:20
"No man is an island."
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"Ningún home é unha illa".
11:23
And in a number of studies, it's possible to compare
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E nun número de estudos é posible comparar
como lle vai á xente en países
máis ou menos desiguais
11:26
how people do in more and less equal countries
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11:29
at each level in the social hierarchy.
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en cada nivel da xerarquía social.
11:32
This is just one example.
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Este é só un exemplo:
A taxa de mortalidade infantil.
11:35
It's infant mortality.
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Os suecos clasificaban
a mortalidade infantil
11:37
Some Swedes very kindly classified a lot of their infant deaths
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segundo o rexistro británico
da clasificación socioeconómica xeral.
11:40
according to the British register of general socioeconomic classification.
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11:45
And so it's anachronistically
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Entón anacronicamente
11:48
a classification by fathers' occupations,
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clasifica segundo a ocupación dos pais,
11:50
so single parents go on their own.
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11:52
But then where it says "low social class,"
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A "clase social baixa"
11:55
that's unskilled manual occupations.
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refierese ao traballo manual,
11:58
It goes through towards the skilled manual occupations in the middle,
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Logo está o traballo manual especializado
12:02
then the junior non-manual,
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logo o traballo xerárquico non manual,
12:04
going up high to the professional occupations --
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ata o traballo profesional:
12:07
doctors, lawyers,
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doutores, avogados,
12:09
directors of larger companies.
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directores en grandes empresas.
12:11
You see there that Sweden does better than Britain
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A Suecia vaille mellor ca ao Reino Unido
12:14
all the way across the social hierarchy.
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en tódalas escalas sociais.
As diferenzas maiores están
no máis baixo da sociedade.
12:19
The biggest differences are at the bottom of society.
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12:21
But even at the top,
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Pero mesmo no máis alto,
parece haber un pequeno beneficio
12:23
there seems to be a small benefit
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12:25
to being in a more equal society.
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por pertencer a unha sociedade
con maior igualdade.
12:27
We show that on about five different sets of data
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Demostrámolo con 5 conxuntos de datos
12:30
covering educational outcomes
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que cobren resultados educativos
12:32
and health in the United States and internationally.
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e de saúde nos EEUU e mundialmente.
12:35
And that seems to be the general picture --
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E a imaxe xeral mostra
12:38
that greater equality makes most difference at the bottom,
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que a maior igualdade provoca
maior diferenza abaixo
12:41
but has some benefits even at the top.
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pero tamén, ten beneficios arriba.
12:44
But I should say a few words about what's going on.
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Quero dicirlles algo.
12:48
I think I'm looking and talking
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Sinto que estou observando e falando
12:50
about the psychosocial effects of inequality.
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sobre os efectos psicosociais.
Que teñen máis que ver con sentimentos
de superioridade ou inferioridade,
12:53
More to do with feelings of superiority and inferiority,
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12:56
of being valued and devalued,
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con sentirse ou non valorado,
12:58
respected and disrespected.
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respetado ou non respetado.
13:01
And of course, those feelings
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E por suposto, estas emocións
13:03
of the status competition that comes out of that
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da competencia de status
13:06
drives the consumerism in our society.
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conducen ao consumismo na nosa sociedade.
13:09
It also leads to status insecurity.
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Tamén leva a un estado de inseguridade.
13:12
We worry more about how we're judged and seen by others,
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Preocupanos máis como nos xulgan,
13:16
whether we're regarded as attractive, clever,
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se somos atractivos, intelixentes,
13:19
all that kind of thing.
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e ese tipo de cousas.
13:22
The social-evaluative judgments increase,
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Aumenta o prexuízo da avaliación social,
13:25
the fear of those social-evaluative judgments.
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o medo a eses prexuízos.
13:29
Interestingly,
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Curiosamente,
13:31
some parallel work going on in social psychology:
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hai estudos en psicoloxía social:
13:35
some people reviewed 208 different studies
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Alguén revisou 208 estudos diferentes
13:38
in which volunteers had been invited
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nos que se invitou a voluntarios
13:41
into a psychological laboratory
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a un laboratorio psicosocial
13:43
and had their stress hormones,
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onde lles mediron as hormonas do estrés
13:45
their responses to doing stressful tasks, measured.
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E nesta revisión
13:49
And in the review,
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13:51
what they were interested in seeing
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o que lles interesaba observar
13:53
is what kind of stresses
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era que tipos de estrés
13:55
most reliably raise levels of cortisol,
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soben os niveis de cortisol.
13:58
the central stress hormone.
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a hormona do estrés principal.
14:00
And the conclusion was
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E concluíron
14:02
it was tasks that included social-evaluative threat --
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que as tarefas que implican avaliación;
14:05
threats to self-esteem or social status
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ameazas á autoestima ou ao status social
14:08
in which others can negatively judge your performance.
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nas que outros nos poderían xulgar.
14:11
Those kind of stresses
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Eses tipos de estrés
14:13
have a very particular effect
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teñen un efecto moi característico
14:16
on the physiology of stress.
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na fisioloxía do estrés.
14:20
Now we have been criticized.
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Ténsenos criticado.
14:22
Of course, there are people who dislike this stuff
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Hai persoas ás que isto non lles gusta
14:25
and people who find it very surprising.
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e persoas a quen lles sorprende.
14:28
I should tell you though
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Pero debo dicirlles
14:30
that when people criticize us for picking and choosing data,
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14:33
we never pick and choose data.
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xamais eliximos nin filtramos información.
14:35
We have an absolute rule
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Temos unha norma clara,
14:37
that if our data source has data for one of the countries we're looking at,
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todo dato válido, fiable
14:40
it goes into the analysis.
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é incluído na análise.
14:42
Our data source decides
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É a nosa fonte de información a que decide
14:44
whether it's reliable data,
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se esa información é fiable ou non,
14:46
we don't.
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non nós.
14:48
Otherwise that would introduce bias.
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No caso contrario seriamos parciais.
14:50
What about other countries?
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Que ocorre cos outros países?
14:52
There are 200 studies
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Hai 200 estudos
14:55
of health in relation to income and equality
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de saúde en relación
con ingresos e desigualdade
14:58
in the academic peer-reviewed journals.
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en publicacións revisadas por pares.
15:01
This isn't confined to these countries here,
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Isto non está confinado só a estes países
15:04
hiding a very simple demonstration.
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ocultando unha demostración moi simple.
15:06
The same countries,
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Os mesmos países,
15:08
the same measure of inequality,
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o mesmo índice de desigualdade,
15:10
one problem after another.
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problema tras problema.
15:14
Why don't we control for other factors?
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Por que non controlamos outros factores?
15:16
Well we've shown you that GNP per capita
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Porque demostramos que o PIB per cápita
15:18
doesn't make any difference.
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non é unha variable confusora.
15:20
And of course, others using more sophisticated methods in the literature
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Outros utilizando outros métodos
15:24
have controlled for poverty and education
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mediron a pobreza e a educación
15:26
and so on.
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etcétera.
15:30
What about causality?
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Que pasa coa causalidade?
15:32
Correlation in itself doesn't prove causality.
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A correlación non é causalidade
15:35
We spend a good bit of time.
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Pasou un longo tempo.
15:37
And indeed, people know the causal links quite well
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Sabemos do nexo causal
15:39
in some of these outcomes.
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nalgúns destes resultados.
15:41
The big change in our understanding
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O gran cambio na nosa comprensión
15:43
of drivers of chronic health
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das causas da saúde crónica
15:45
in the rich developed world
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no mundo densenvolvido e rico
15:47
is how important chronic stress from social sources
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é a importancia do estrés crónico
15:51
is affecting the immune system,
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no sistema inmune,
15:53
the cardiovascular system.
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ou ao sistema cardiovascular.
15:56
Or for instance, the reason why violence
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Por exemplo, a razón de que a violencia
15:58
becomes more common in more unequal societies
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3000
exista máis en sociedades desiguais
16:01
is because people are sensitive to being looked down on.
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é debido á maior probabilidade
de que as persoas sexan despreciadas.
16:06
I should say that to deal with this,
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Diría que para lidar con isto,
16:09
we've got to deal with the post-tax things
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debemos lidar cos ingresos tanto antes
16:11
and the pre-tax things.
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como despois de impostos.
16:13
We've got to constrain income,
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Debemos restrinxir os ingresos,
16:16
the bonus culture incomes at the top.
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a cultura das primas, dos bonos
16:18
I think we must make our bosses accountable to their employees
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Debemos responsabilizar aos nosos xefes
dos seus empregados
16:21
in any way we can.
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de calquera xeito que se poida.
16:24
I think the take-home message though
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E creo que a mensaxe
debe ser que podemos
16:27
is that we can improve the real quality of human life
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mellorar a calidade da vida humana
16:31
by reducing the differences in incomes between us.
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reducindo as diferenzas entre nós.
16:34
Suddenly we have a handle
380
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De pronto poderíase manexar
16:36
on the psychosocial well-being of whole societies,
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o benestar da sociedade enteira,
16:38
and that's exciting.
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e iso é excitante!
16:40
Thank you.
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Grazas.
16:42
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Francisco Caamano-Isorna
Reviewed by Xusto Rodriguez

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Richard Wilkinson - Public health researcher
In "The Spirit Level," Richard Wilkinson charts data that proves societies that are more equal are healthier, happier societies.

Why you should listen

For decades, Richard Wilkinson has studied the social effects of income inequality and how social forces affect health. In The Spirit Level, a book coauthored with Kate Pickett, he lays out reams of statistical evidence that, among developed countries, societies that are more equal – with a smaller income gap between rich and poor -- are happier and healthier than societies with greater disparities in the distribution of wealth.

While poverty has long been recognized as an indicator for such social ills as crime, obesity, teen pregnancy, Wilkinson and Pickett have demonstrated that societal well-being bears no relation to per capita income. They’ve also found that the symptoms of inequality trouble all levels of society. Across the board, mental health, levels of violence and addiction, even life expectancy are affected by the psycho-social stress caused by income gaps and status anxiety.

In the UK, The Spirit Level won support from politicians both left and right. Wilkinson, who is Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, also cofounded The Equality Trust, a nonprofit that aims to reduce income inequality by educating and engaging the public while supporting political commitment to address the problem.

He says: "While I'd always assumed that an equal society must score better on social cohesion, I never expected to find such clear differences between existing market economies."

NEW: Read the TED Blog's Q&A with Richard Wilkinson >>

More profile about the speaker
Richard Wilkinson | Speaker | TED.com

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