The long and short of it: the temporal significance of wealth and income

Katharina Hecht and Kate Summers

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: In the literatures on the lived experience of poverty and richness temporal dimensions are underappreciated. Comparing qualitative interviews with those at opposite ends of the income and wealth distributions in the UK, we examine a temporal contrast: while “poor” participants experience money as flows of income which focus orientation to the present and constrain orientation to the future, “rich” participants experience money not only as flows of income, but also in the form of a stock of wealth which facilitates long-term orientations. Highlighting the enduring nature of wealth and the comparative short-termism of income, we argue that the way in which capital and income relates to individuals' orientations to the future is important for understanding how economic inequality is experienced. Put differently, the form which economic resources take matters for one's ability to plan and control the future. This insight contributes to our understanding of the experience of being economically advantaged or disadvantaged, with implications for (social) policy.

Keywords: economic inequality; poverty; temporality; wealth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15 pages
Date: 2020-10-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ore
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Social Policy and Administration, 5, October, 2020. ISSN: 0144-5596

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:106519

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