The Gini coefficient

You can take a seat on the Ginibank. It is located right next to the tally sticks. The bench itself has a grid, the numbers 0 and 1, and a curve engraved into it. These details refer to the Gini wealth coefficient. In Germany, this coefficient is 0.81. This value is also noted on the bench.

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The Gini bench

The extent of inequality in a society can be represented by the Gini coefficient. If everyone has the same amount or the same small amount of wealth, the Gini coefficient equals 0. If all wealth belongs to one person and nothing is left for everyone else, the Gini coefficient equals 1. In Germany, the Gini coefficient was 0.81-0.83 in 2020, i.e. before the pandemic.

If we compare this figure with the Gini coefficient in the US, we see that there is hardly any difference. There, it is between 0.85 and 0.87. So in Germany, we have an Americanization of our wealth structure, as poverty and wealth researcher C. Butterwegge puts it. This extreme inequality leads to polarization of society and to its drifting apart.

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Wealth

We are therefore only 0.19 to 0.17 percentage points away from total wealth being concentrated in one hand. Even today, the top 0.001% of the population owns over 20% of total wealth. The richest 10% have over 67% of net wealth. How do democratic co-determination and maximum wealth concentration go together? How can a state or city still provide social services and enable participation if the state or city first has to borrow the money to do so? And isn't it actually the case that money is a public good that is made available to us primarily by the central banks? So why does the public sector have to borrow money from mostly private actors on the capital market?