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The Level Of World Inequality: How Much Can One Say?

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  • Albert Berry
  • Francois Bourguignon
  • Christian Morrisson

Abstract

This paper constructs estimates of income and consumption inequality for the world (124 countries), using various measures of inequality. It then goes on to examine the possible effects of various sources of error in the estimates, and attempts to set rough limits to the size of such effects. Among the sources of error examined are purchasing power parities used for currency conversion, systematic errors in estimates of per capita incomes, differences in age structure, government tax and expenditure policy, and lifetime income effects. The paper concludes that, although the level of uncertainty in the estimates is too great to permit conclusions about, for instance, trends over time, it is clear that the level of world inequality is extreme, and that it is primarily due to differences in average incomes across countries rather than to intra‐country inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Albert Berry & Francois Bourguignon & Christian Morrisson, 1983. "The Level Of World Inequality: How Much Can One Say?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 29(3), pages 217-241, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:29:y:1983:i:3:p:217-241
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4991.1983.tb00643.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Clare Leaver & Paul Segal, 2014. "The Global Distribution of Income," Economics Series Working Papers 714, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Amarante, Verónica & Galván, Marco & Mancero, Xavier, 2016. "Inequality in Latin America: a global measurement," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    3. World Bank Group, 2015. "A Measured Approach to Ending Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity : Concepts, Data, and the Twin Goals," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 20384.
    4. Shaohua Chen & Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1994. "Is Poverty Increasing In The Developing World?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 40(4), pages 359-376, December.
    5. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav & van de Walle, Dominique & Chan, Elaine, 1991. "Quantifying the magnitude and severity of absolute poverty in the developing world in the mid-1980s," Policy Research Working Paper Series 587, The World Bank.
    6. Guillermina Jasso & Samuel Kotz, 2008. "Two Types of Inequality," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 37(1), pages 31-74, August.
    7. Sudhir Anand & Paul Segal, 2008. "What Do We Know about Global Income Inequality?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 57-94, March.
    8. Passant M. B. Selim & Hasan Güngör, 2021. "Inequality and financial development: Evidence from selected MENA region countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 2732-2747, April.
    9. Jasso, Guillermina & Kotz, Samuel, 2007. "Two Types of Inequality: Inequality Between Persons and Inequality Between Subgroups," IZA Discussion Papers 2749, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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