Trends in income inequality

Literature recently highlights that the income inequality has increased in almost all countries since the 1980s, which leads to the following question; is there a secular trend and shift in income inequality of developing and/or advanced countries? We address this question using the Gini coefficient for a sample of 21 advanced and developing countries over 1960-2015. We also assess the inequality gap between developing and advanced countries. We find that the income inequality exhibits negative, mainly in Latin America countries, positive, or trendless behaviours. The Gini coefficient of developing countries also exhibit different behaviours relative to advanced countries. Overall, a secular trend of inequality cannot be identified across advanced and/or developing countries in our sample. Our findings raise some concerns regarding the efficiency of global policies to reduce of among-country inequality, one of the main goals of United Nations for the next 15 years.