An individual who makes as much as the median American household plausibly could be in the top 1% of individuals by income, if average household size is a few people. (There are only 120 million American households.) I think this is what the linked GWWC calculator is doing.
I dunno, I feel like these are two fairly different claims. I also expect the average non-American household to be larger than the average American household, not smaller (so there will be <6 B households worldwide).
I feel like these are two fairly different claims.
Yes, I agree they are different. And I agree the OP’s claim is implausible for the reason you give. I just meant to point out that I think the OP misstated the claim made by the GWWC calculator cited and that the GWWC claim is plausible (or at least that your given reason is not sufficient to make it implausible).
The GWWC calculator explicitly says “If you have a household income of $58,000 (in a household of 1 adult)” “you are in the richest 1% of the global population.”
That can be true even if the median individual American is not in the top 1% of individuals by income globally, and even if the median American household is not in the top 1% of households by income globally because an individual who makes as much as the median American household actually makes more than most Americans. (We can’t estimate the exact percentile a priori. A priori they could make more than 18-100% of Americans depending on how individual Americans and income are distributed across American households.)
The GWWC calculator claim could be true only if the individual who makes as much as the median American household makes more than at least 76.3% of Americans (76.3% = 1-0.01/(333,000,000/7,881,000,000)). 76.3% is in the range that I would have guessed (~60-80%) so it’s at least plausible.
Edited to add: Wikipedia says 76% of Americans make less than $57,500/year. The existence of any number of non-Americans making more than $58,000/year is surely enough to cause the GWWC calculator’s claim to be false.
Looks like only ~5-15% of Americans are in the global 1% of the income distribution then. I’d be interested in knowing the exact number / income level.
Got it, I agree with you that this can be what’s going on! When the intuition is spelled out we clearly see the “trick” is comparing individual incomes as if they were comparable to household incomes.
Living in the Bay Area, I think some of my friends do forget that in addition to being extremely rich by international standards, they are also somewhere between fairly and extremely rich by American standards as well.
I also expect the average non-American household to be larger than the average American household, not smaller (so there will be <6 B households worldwide).
Indeed, my own qualitative research suggests US households are smaller than average—and maybe even consist mainly of single individuals.
My research involves parsing the details in this video and this video.
Not your fault, but
does not seem plausible to me, because the US has ~4% of the world population.
An individual who makes as much as the median American household plausibly could be in the top 1% of individuals by income, if average household size is a few people. (There are only 120 million American households.) I think this is what the linked GWWC calculator is doing.
I dunno, I feel like these are two fairly different claims. I also expect the average non-American household to be larger than the average American household, not smaller (so there will be <6 B households worldwide).
Yes, I agree they are different. And I agree the OP’s claim is implausible for the reason you give. I just meant to point out that I think the OP misstated the claim made by the GWWC calculator cited and that the GWWC claim is plausible (or at least that your given reason is not sufficient to make it implausible).
The GWWC calculator explicitly says “If you have a household income of $58,000 (in a household of 1 adult)” “you are in the richest 1% of the global population.”
That can be true even if the median individual American is not in the top 1% of individuals by income globally, and even if the median American household is not in the top 1% of households by income globally because an individual who makes as much as the median American household actually makes more than most Americans. (We can’t estimate the exact percentile a priori. A priori they could make more than 18-100% of Americans depending on how individual Americans and income are distributed across American households.)
The GWWC calculator claim could be true only if the individual who makes as much as the median American household makes more than at least 76.3% of Americans (76.3% = 1-0.01/(333,000,000/7,881,000,000)). 76.3% is in the range that I would have guessed (~60-80%) so it’s at least plausible.
Edited to add: Wikipedia says 76% of Americans make less than $57,500/year. The existence of any number of non-Americans making more than $58,000/year is surely enough to cause the GWWC calculator’s claim to be false.
Looks like only ~5-15% of Americans are in the global 1% of the income distribution then. I’d be interested in knowing the exact number / income level.
Got it, I agree with you that this can be what’s going on! When the intuition is spelled out we clearly see the “trick” is comparing individual incomes as if they were comparable to household incomes.
Living in the Bay Area, I think some of my friends do forget that in addition to being extremely rich by international standards, they are also somewhere between fairly and extremely rich by American standards as well.
Indeed, my own qualitative research suggests US households are smaller than average—and maybe even consist mainly of single individuals.
My research involves parsing the details in this video and this video.
Speaking of the second video, I have my own fan theory that “Blank Space” is based on popular manga and anime series Death Note.
If you happen to not be aware of this video already, you really should be.