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After the Financial Crisis: The Evolution of the Global Income Distribution Between 2008 and 2013

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  • Branko Milanovic

Abstract

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 and India’s high growth rates that explain about two‐thirds of the 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.

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  • Branko Milanovic, 2022. "After the Financial Crisis: The Evolution of the Global Income Distribution Between 2008 and 2013," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 43-73, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:68:y:2022:i:1:p:43-73
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12516
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    3. Thomas Gries & Wim Naudé, 2021. "Extreme Events, Entrepreneurial Start-Ups, and Innovation: Theoretical Conjectures," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 329-353, October.
    4. Thomas Piketty & Li Yang, 2022. "Income and Wealth Inequality in Hong Kong, 1981–2020: The Rise of Pluto-Communism? [Top Wealth Shares in the UK over More than a Century]," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(4), pages 803-834.
    5. Naudé, Wim & Nagler, Paula, 2022. "The Ossified Economy: The Case of Germany, 1870-2020," IZA Discussion Papers 15607, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2023. "Inequality Beyond GDP: A Long View," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(3), pages 533-554, September.
    7. Gradín, Carlos, 2024. "Revisiting the trends in global inequality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    8. Bjorn Gustafsson, 2023. "Comment on “Income and Wealth Inequality in Asia and the Pacific: Trends, Causes, and Policy Remedies”," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 18(1), pages 45-46, January.
    9. Naudé, Wim & Nagler, Paula, 2021. "The Rise and Fall of German Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 14154, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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