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Global inequality and the global inequality extraction ratio: the story of the past two centuries

Author:	Milanovic, Branko;	Collection Title:	Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 5044Paper is funded by the Knowledge for Change Program (KCP)
Country:	World;	Date Stored:	2009/09/09
Document Date:	2009/09/01	Document Type:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English	Major Sector:	Public Administration, Law, and Justice
Rel. Proj ID:	CN-Research Program On Poverty And Inequality -- -- P079124;	Region:	The World Region
Report Number:	WPS5044	Sub Sectors:	General public administration sector
SubTopics:	Access to Finance; Inequality; Equity and Development; Services & Transfers to Poor; Poverty Impact Evaluation	TF No/Name:	TF053492-KCP:EVALUATING; TF030646-SPANISH CTF - FY05 (CHINA, PHILIPPINES, & VIETNAM/ALL SECTORS & THEMES)
Volume No:	1 of 1

Summary: Using social tables, the author makes an estimate of global inequality (inequality among world citizens) in the early 19th century. The analysis shows that the level and composition of global inequality have changed over the past two centuries. The level has increased, reaching a high plateau around the 1950s, and the main determinants of global inequality have become differences in mean country incomes rather than inequalities within nations. The inequality extraction ratio (the percentage of total inequality that was extracted by global elites) has remained surprisingly stable, at around 70 percent of the maximum global Gini, during the past 100 years.


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