generally household resources the returns earned on those resources labour market participation behaviour and demographic characteristics all contribute to the makeup of the income distribution however it is necessary to identify how these factors interact in a particular country context and are affected by exogenous forces before forming sound policy recommendations the problems many countries face in addressing the upward pressures on skilled wages from shifting wealth and associated increases in returns to education also provide convincing evidence that rather than focus on increasing average education attainment by any means governments should specifically try to raise the minimum level of education in their countries the political processes in which societies come together to address and aggregate individual preferences about the nature of the income distribution can build national identity establish a shared sense of community and promote greater social harmony