Global Income Distribution: From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession (original) (raw)
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Global Income Distribution: From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession Downloaded from
We present an improved panel database of national household surveys between 1988 and 2008. In 2008, the global Gini index is around 70.5%, having declined by approximately 2 Gini points. China graduated from the bottom ranks, changing a twin-peaked global income distribution to a single-peaked one and creating an important global " median " class. 90% of the fastest growing country-deciles are from Asia, while almost 90% of the worst performers are from mature economies. Another " winner " was the global top 1%. Hence the global growth incidence curve has a distinct supine S shape, with gains highest around the median and top. JEL codes: D31 This paper provides new evidence on the evolution of global interpersonal income inequality between 1988 and 2008. We measure inequality among all individuals in the world irrespective of their country of residency thus implicitly assuming a " cosmopolitan " social welfare function (Atkinson and Brandolini 2010) and translating the concern for within-country inequality to the global level (Pogge 2002; Singer 2002). Over this period, the face of globalization changed dramatically with the end of the Soviet Union and the integration of many developing countries into the world economy. Our analysis of global
After the Financial Crisis: The Evolution of the Global Income Distribution Between 2008 and 2013
2020
Using the newly created, and in terms of coverage and detail, the most complete household income data from more than 130 countries, the paper analyzes the changes in the global income distribution between 2008 and 2013. This was the period of the global financial crisis and recovery. It is shown that global inequality continued to decline, largely due to China’s growth that explains one-half of global Gini decrease between 2008 and 2013. Income growth of the global top 1 percent slowed significantly. The slowdown is present even after survey data are corrected for the likely underestimation of highest incomes. The paper ends with a discussion of the effects of the financial crisis in the light of an even more serious looming crisis caused by the 2019-20 pandemic. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)
This paper presents estimates of world economic growth for 1970-2000, and changes in the intercountry and interpersonal distribution of world income between 1980 and 2000. These estimates suggest that, while the rate of growth of the world economy slowed in the 1980-2000 period, and average within-country inequality worsened, the distribution of world income among individuals, nevertheless, improved a little. However, that result was wholly due to the exceptional economic performances of China and India. Outside these two countries, the slowdown in world growth was even more dramatic, the distribution of world income unequivocally worsened, and poverty rates remained largely unchanged.
On the Evolution of the World Income Distribution
1997
The post-World War II period has seen substantial changes in the distribution of GDP per worker around the world. In the upper half of the distribution, a number of countries have exhibited large increases in income relative to the richest countries. In the bottom half, several countries have seen incomes fall relative to the richest countries. The net result of these changes is a movement in the shape of the world income distribution from something that looks like a normal distribution in 1960 to a bi-modal "twin-peaks" distribution in 1988. Projecting these changes into the future suggests a number of interesting findings. First, it seems likely that the United States will lose its position as the country with the highest level of GDP per worker. Second, growth miracles have been more common in recent decades than growth disasters. If these dynamics continue, the future income distribution will involve far more "rich" countries and far fewer "poor" countries than currently observed.
The World Distribution of Income And Its Inequality, 1970-2009
Review of Income and Wealth, 2013
This paper provides a full decomposition of world inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, in the period 1970-2009. In particular, using the Analysis of Gini (ANOGI), the paper describes the evolution of between inequality, within inequality, and the impact of overlapping on both factors. While there is evidence that between inequality in the last decade significantly declined due to the rapid Chinese growth, within inequality and overlapping went in the opposite direction. Furthermore, with the exception of some Asian countries, the rest of the world has not moved significantly. As a result, world inequality remains high by any standard.
CHAPTER 11 The Global Distribution of Income
2014
This chapter investigates recent advances in our understanding of the global distribution of income, and produces the first estimates of global inequality that take into account data on the incomes of the top one percent within countries. We discuss conceptual and methodological issues – including alternative definitions of the global distribution, the use of household surveys and national accounts data, the use of purchasing power parity exchange rates, and the incorporation of recently available data on top incomes from income tax records. We also review recent attempts to estimate the global distribution of income. Our own estimates combine household survey data with top income data, and we analyze various aspects of this distribution, including its withinand between-country components, and changes in relative versus absolute global inequality. Finally, we examine global poverty, which is identified through the lower end of the global distribution. 937 Handbook of Income Distribu...