Measuring inequality in the Middle East

Chapter 12 by Facundo Alvaredo, Lydia Assouad and Thomas Piketty is concerned with measuring inequality in the Middle East. Here, the authors reference and combine all income data existing in the region – household surveys, national accounts, income tax data and wealth data – in order to estimate income concentration in the region for the period 1990–2016. According to their benchmark series, the Middle East appears to be the most unequal region in the world, with a top decile income share as large as 64%, compared to 37% in Western Europe, 47% in the US and 55% in Brazil. This is due both to enormous inequality between countries (particularly between oil-rich and population-rich countries) and to large inequality within countries (which is probably under-estimated, given limited access to accurate fiscal data). The authors stress the importance of increasing transparency on income and wealth in the Middle East and hope more research can shed light on the dynamics of income concentration, within-country inequality, as well as the drivers of such extreme levels.