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Global income inequality by the numbers : in history and now --an overview--

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  • Milanovic, Branko

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of calculations of global inequality, recently and over the long-run as well as main controversies and political and philosophical implications of the findings. It focuses in particular on the winners and losers of the most recent episode of globalization, from 1988 to 2008. It suggests that the period might have witnessed the first decline in global inequality between world citizens since the Industrial Revolution. The decline however can be sustained only if countries'mean incomes continue to converge (as they have been doing during the past ten years) and if internal (within-country) inequalities, which are already high, are kept in check. Mean-income convergence would also reduce the huge"citizenship premium"that is enjoyed today by the citizens of rich countries.

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  • Milanovic, Branko, 2012. "Global income inequality by the numbers : in history and now --an overview--," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6259, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6259
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Is inequality good or bad?
      by Johan Fourie in Johan Fourie's Blog on 2014-02-18 01:11:13

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    Cited by:

    1. Collin Constantine, 2020. "A Community Divided: Top Incomes in CARICOM Member States," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(3), pages 738-758, July.
    2. Rahul Lahoti & Arjun Jayadev & Sanjay G. Reddy, 2014. "The Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP): An Introduction and Preliminary Findings," LIS Working papers 621, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Isaac Akomea-Frimpong & Caleb Boadi & Roger Owusu-Boafo, 2021. "Determinants and challenges of supplying microlife insurance in Ghana," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 46(3), pages 331-357, July.
    4. Arjun Jayadev & Rahul Lahoti & Sanjay G. Reddy, 2015. "Who got what, then and now? A Fifty Year Overview from the Global Consumption and Income Project," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 174, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    5. Jomo, K. & Popov, V., 2016. "Long-Term Trends in Income Distribution," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 146-160.
    6. Guillermo Lezama & Henry Willebald, 2020. "Inequality in Pre‐Income Survey Times: A Methodological Proposal," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(4), pages 931-957, December.
    7. Lahoti Rahul & Jayadev Arjun & Reddy Sanjay, 2016. "The Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP): An Overview," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 61-108, June.
    8. Rafiou Alfa Boukari, 2021. "Repenser la lutte contre la pauvreté et des inégalités par l’innovation dans les modèles de développement," Working Papers hal-03177195, HAL.
    9. Le, Thai-Ha & Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Su, Thanh Dinh & Tran-Nam, Binh, 2020. "The Kuznets curve for export diversification and income inequality: Evidence from a global sample," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 21-39.
    10. repec:epa:cepawp:2014-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Gevorkyan, Aleksandr V., 2015. "The legends of the Caucasus: Economic transformation of Armenia and Georgia," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1009-1024.
    12. Bauer, Johannes M., 2018. "The Internet and income inequality: Socio-economic challenges in a hyperconnected society," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 333-343.
    13. Hassine, Nadia Belhaj, 2015. "Economic Inequality in the Arab Region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 532-556.
    14. Hartmann, Dominik & Guevara, Miguel R. & Jara-Figueroa, Cristian & Aristarán, Manuel & Hidalgo, César A., 2017. "Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 75-93.
    15. Ben Slay & Tahmina Anvarova, 2019. "Inequalities in middle-income Europe and Central Asia: A tale of three studies," Russian Journal of Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 5(4), pages 441-448, December.
    16. Peter Edward & Andy Sumner, 2013. "Inequality from a global perspective: An alternative approach," Working Papers 302, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    17. Lucas Herrenbrueck, 2019. "No Elephant in the Room? Noisy Convergence and the Global Growth Incidence Curve," Discussion Papers dp19-06, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    18. Blampied, Nicolás, 2021. "Economic growth, environmental constraints and convergence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    19. Sayed, Adham & Peng, Bin, 2020. "The income inequality curve in the last 100 years: What happened to the Inverted-U?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 63-72.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; Poverty Impact Evaluation; Services&Transfers to Poor; Equity and Development; Income;
    All these keywords.

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