World’s Growth and Inequalities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25115/eea.v28i2%20(2).4696Keywords:
World Income Distribution, Measurement of Inequality.Abstract
After intensive research, the relationship between (mean) growth and (relative) inequality is unresolved, and it will be unresolved because by definition relative inequality is mean independent. In this paper we review some recent empirical literature about the inequality and growth relationship and provide some additional interpretations about the choice of different measures of inequality by using a simple graphical tool called the poorest and richest triangle. The main conclusion of the paper is that, although in the most recent decades scholars may perceive either an increase or a decrease of the world inequality depending on the concept chosen, the world inequality is in any case disturbing because it has increased dramatically in the long term whatever the concept used.
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