IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/306825.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A more equal world? An analysis of the global inequality trends in the period 2000-2020

Author

Listed:
  • Guerriero, Arthur Zito

Abstract

This paper analyzes the evolution of global interpersonal income inequality in the last decades. While some authors emphasize that global inequality fell significantly between 2000 and 2020 (Milanovic, 2024), others argue that global inequality has remained constant (Chancel & Pikey, 2021) or even increased (Hickel, 2017). This paper contributes to the interpretation of this period by showing that while global inequality did fall between 2000 and 2020, this trend was not the result of a truly global convergence process involving all countries, as it was mainly driven by high growth rates in Asia. Combining data from the World Income Inequality Database (WIID) with population forecasts from the United Nations, an upward trend in global income inequality is projected, even if the economic shocks of COVID-19 and the invasion of Ukraine are not taken into account. The present study shows that a significant share of the Chinese population has reached such high-income levels that further increases in these incomes will contribute to a rise in inequality. Moreover, a further reduction in global inequality will require faster income growth in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, whereas sustained high growth rates in East Asia will contribute to higher inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Guerriero, Arthur Zito, 2024. "A more equal world? An analysis of the global inequality trends in the period 2000-2020," Ruhr Economic Papers 1098, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:306825
    DOI: 10.4419/96973275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/306825/1/1909340995.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/96973275?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carlos Gradín, 2021. "Trends in global inequality using a new integrated dataset," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-61, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Frank A Cowell & Emmanuel Flachaire, 2018. "Inequality Measurement and the Rich: Why inequality increased more than we thought," STICERD - Public Economics Programme Discussion Papers 36, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    3. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martin Ravallion, 2018. "What might explain today’s conflicting narratives on global inequality?," WIDER Working Paper Series 141, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Martin Ravallion, 2018. "What might explain today's conflicting narratives on global inequality?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-141, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory. Part B: Critical issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1403-1411.
    4. Vanesa Jorda & José María Sarabia & Markus Jäntti, 2020. "Estimation of Income Inequality from Grouped Data," LIS Working papers 804, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Miguel Niño‐Zarazúa & Laurence Roope & Finn Tarp, 2017. "Global Inequality: Relatively Lower, Absolutely Higher," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 661-684, December.
    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. Marrero,Gustavo Alberto & Rodríguez,Juan Gabriel & Van Der Weide,Roy, 2021. "Does Race and Gender Inequality Impact Income Growth ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9865, The World Bank.
    8. Tomas Hellebrandt & Paolo Mauro, 2015. "The Future of Worldwide Income Distribution," Working Paper Series WP15-7, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    9. Decancq, Koen & Ooghe, Erwin, 2010. "Has the world moved forward? A robust multidimensional evaluation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 266-269, May.
    10. Andrew J. Hussey & Michael Jetter & Dianne McWilliam, 2017. "Explaining Inequality Between Countries: The Declining Role of Political Institutions," CESifo Working Paper Series 6320, CESifo.
    11. Tamminen, Saara, 2014. "Varying markups and income inequality in an open economy," Conference papers 332437, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    12. David O. Omole & Julius M. Ndambuki, 2014. "Sustainable Living in Africa: Case of Water, Sanitation, Air Pollution and Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-16, August.
    13. Ranaldi, Marco, 2021. "Global Distributions of Capital and Labor Incomes: Capitalization of the Global Middle Class," SocArXiv 3g59r, Center for Open Science.
    14. Lili Tan & Dao-Zhi Zeng, 2014. "Spatial inequality between developed and developing economies," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 229-248, June.
    15. Cockburn, John & Duclos, Jean-Yves & Zabsonré, Agnès, 2014. "Is global social welfare increasing? A critical-level enquiry," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 151-162.
    16. Milanovic, Branko, 2009. "Global inequality recalculated: The effect of new 2005 PPP estimates on global inequality," MPRA Paper 16538, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Tekwa, EW & Giles, Rachel K & Davis, Alexandra CD, 2022. "Theoretical foundation and empirical assessment of representation and meritocracy in academia," SocArXiv 4bd9r_v1, Center for Open Science.
    18. Gradín, Carlos, 2024. "Revisiting the trends in global inequality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    19. Bruni, Michele, 2022. "Between-Country Global Inequality and Demographic Change," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 56(3), pages 65-85.
    20. Amer Ahmed & Maurizio Bussolo & Marcio Cruz & Delfin S. Go & Israel Osorio-Rodarte, 2020. "Global Inequality in a more educated world," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(4), pages 585-616, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Global inequality; income distribution; China; convergence; projection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:306825. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.