第15回 の解答
テーマ：経済格差 正解は緑、解説・和訳・スクリプト・模範解答つき
語彙・熟語（大問1形式）
目安 2分30秒空所に入れるのに最も適切なものを1つ選びなさい。
訳：その報告書は、大都市の労働者と地方の労働者の所得の間で拡大する格差を強調した。格差は過去20年間着実に広がっている。
訳：裕福な家庭の子どもは家庭教師や海外旅行の恩恵を受けることが多いが、それらは低所得世帯の子どもにはめったに得られない利点である。
訳：格差を縮小するため、政府は年収が1億円を超える個人に追加の税を課すことを決定した。
訳：大学の学位がなかったため、マークは安定した仕事を続けるのに苦労し、何年もパートの仕事を転々とした。
訳：家賃と食料品価格の上昇が多くの低所得家庭の貯蓄に食い込み、緊急時に使えるお金がほとんど残っていない。
長文読解（大問3形式）
目安 4分30秒The Great Gatsby Curve
Economists have long debated whether high levels of inequality are harmful in themselves. According to one view, large income gaps are acceptable, and may even be desirable, as long as everyone has a fair chance to improve their situation. From this perspective, differences in income simply reflect differences in effort and talent, and they provide an incentive for people to work hard and take risks. What matters, supporters of this view argue, is not equality of outcomes but equality of opportunity.
Research suggests, however, that the two may be closely linked. Using data from various countries, economist Alan Krueger popularized a graph known as the Great Gatsby Curve. It shows that in countries with greater income inequality, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, children's future earnings tend to be more closely tied to those of their parents. In more equal countries, such as Denmark and Norway, social mobility tends to be higher. One explanation is that wealthy families can invest heavily in their children's education, health, and social connections, while poorer families lack such resources.
Some economists caution that the curve shows a correlation rather than proof that inequality causes low mobility. The countries being compared differ in many ways, including their education systems, labor markets, and family structures, any of which might affect both inequality and mobility. Nevertheless, the pattern has influenced policy debates. If advantages are passed from one generation to the next, the gap may widen over time, making inequality increasingly difficult to reverse. This concern has led some governments to invest in early childhood education, which research suggests can be especially beneficial for disadvantaged children.
リスニング（Part2 文章形式）
目安 2分🎙 One of the most common ways to measure economic inequality is the Gini coefficient, developed by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini in 1912. It ranges from zero to one. A score of zero means that everyone in a society has the same income, while a score of one means that a single person receives all of it. Most developed countries have scores between about 0.25 and 0.40. Although the Gini coefficient is useful for comparing countries, it has limitations. Because it summarizes a whole distribution in a single number, two countries can have the same score even if their inequality looks very different. One may have a very poor bottom group, while the other has an extremely rich top group.
スピーキング（面接No.4形式）
40秒The gap between the rich and the poor is growing in many countries.
Should the government raise taxes on wealthy people to reduce economic inequality?
💡 「税収の使い道」を具体的に言うと、増税賛成の理由に説得力が出る。
模範解答
はい、そう思います。裕福な人々にはより多く払う余裕があり、増えた税収を低所得家庭の教育や福祉に使うことができます。また、貧富の差が大きくなりすぎると、社会が不安定になるおそれがあります。より公平な税制は、より平等な機会を生み出す助けになるでしょう。
💡 「税収の使い道」を具体的に言うと、増税賛成の理由に説得力が出る。