Question

How did ida Tarbell work to shed light on economic inequality?

Answer 1

Ida Tarbell (1857 – 1944) pertained to the generation of journalists called muckrackers, who investigated and denounced corruption and unethical practices perpetrated by businesses and government officials during the Progressive Era (late 19th century and early 20th century) in the US.

She published "The History of the Standard Oil Company"  in 1904 through which she set a precedent, and many others subsequently started to gather information and to denounce the abuses committed by companies with absolute market power (monopolies) or by trusts operating in olipolistic markets. The Sherman Antitrust Act had been recently passed in 1890 but firms had been able to freely limit competitiveness during the whole 19th century. Tarbell denounced the manner in which certain corporations gathered enormous fortunes by using anti-competitive practices, possible due to their dominant position in the markets, and also impeding others to participate on the profits of the industry.

Such monopolistic practices enlarged the inequality within the industry and also in the whole society where large fortunes started to appear while most people were humble factory workers who earned very modest salaries.