142 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



30 per cent, who have investment income only. (In the highest incomes 

 the percentage of incomes from investment only is much smaller.) Out 

 of this 30 per cent, a good proportion are of course doing voluntary unpaid 

 work as magistrates or in other public positions ; another section com- 

 prises women who have no opportunities ; while another section would 

 be men too aged to work. As you know, the larger investment fortunes 

 tend to be concentrated on the higher ages. On the whole, I should doubt 

 whether the percentage of able but unoccupied men living entirely on 

 investment income in these classes exceeds 10, and it may be as low as 

 5 per cent., or, say, under 1,000 people.' The actual numbers of the ' idle ' 

 in the classes from £1,000 to £10,000 would exceed this by far, but I have 

 no means of knowing whether the percentage is greater. Moreover, of 

 those gainfully employed, only a minority are drawing their earned 

 incomes solely from directors' fees, and the majority have industrial or 

 financial activities in which they take a personal part. 



8. I think the only test of the effect of equal distribution of wealth 

 upon the average worker would be by distribution of the income. I 

 have already published my statistical conclusion that if all the incomes 

 in excess of £250 were pooled, then, after deducting the present taxation 

 and a fund of new savings equivalent to the pre-war real savings, it would 

 not give each family more than 5s. per week.* But much of this 

 redistributed income is earned income, and therefore the redistribution 

 of property income would give spendable income falling below this figure. 

 There is room for research on this question for the United States, France, 

 and Germany. 



VIII. The Standard of Life and Psychology. 



The third group of questions deals with the psychology of the standard 

 of life and of ecj^uality of distribution. 



9 and 10. There is as yet no economic evidence that equality of indi- 

 vidual income, whether derived from earnings or from property, would 

 give the maximum economic advantage. Nor is there evidence that 

 equality of investment income added to unequal earned incomes would 

 give an optimum point for national production. There are three possible 

 assumptions : — 



(a) That the community should take over all accumulated savings at 

 death and hold them for common enjoyment in new social services in 

 common forms, and in payment for all public services ; (6) that the popula- 

 tion should receive the income and dividends by equal sharing ; and 



' Since 16 per cent, of the large estates corresponding to these supertax incomes 

 are left by women, we may deduct 5 out of this 30 per cent., leaving 25 per cent, for 

 men. But since out of all estates of the magnitude left by men, 76 per cent, are left 

 by men of over sixty-four, this leaves only 6 per cent, out of the 30 per cent, for 

 younger men. Making due allowance for mortality rates in the estate distribution 

 tables, the estimate in the text is reasonable. 



^ Vide Wealth and Taxable Capacity, iii., and The Christian Ethic as an Economic 

 Factor, Appendix III. Also Bowley : Distribution of the Product of Industry; and 

 Chiozza Money : The National Wealth. 



