Global Inequality

[A] seminal book.--Edward Luce"Financial Times" (10/09/2019) [Milanovic] believes that growing inequality within countries will not threaten capitalism as a system for allocating economic resources but will pose a serious threat to liberal democracy. As middle classes everywhere get squeezed, the United States will become even more plutocratic, and nativistic populism will become more mainstream in Europe--a process that is already under way, aided in no small part by the influx of migrants, a feature of globalization that is likely to only intensify.-- (04/14/2016) [Milanovic] brings an enormous scope of knowledge of recent and past income trends...The data assembled in the book are incredibly useful and will be eye-opening to most readers...There is an enormous amount of valuable material in a short book and he does raise a number of important basic moral questions that deserve careful thought. The book is well worth reading.-- (03/16/2016) [Milanovic] makes a case that the rapid growth of poorer countries since 1988 has brought the first decline in inequality since the Industrial Revolution...The very rich or the very corrupt may still hide their wealth in tax havens. Politicians in developed countries may decry rising inequality. But global trends and new data tell an alternative story about the progress already made to lift the poor.-- (04/10/2016) Drawing on two centuries' worth of household survey data, the book provides an important empirical picture of inequality patterns within and among nations...Milanovic's marshaling and analysis of the data are an achievement in themselves. But I also appreciated his imaginative vision and probing sensibility, especially in the fascinating final chapter, in which he poses 10 big questions, offers predictions and proposals, and outlines a future filled with both possibility and peril.-- (07/01/2016) Excellent...can help us better understand inequalities both between and within countries.--Erik Bergloef"Project Syndicate" (09/21/2018) From assessing inequality in the Byzantine Empire to musing over where people fall on the global distribution of income, Branko Milanovic has made a name for himself as an innovative thinker in this field. Even before Thomas Piketty made it cool, he was using Jane Austen vignettes to explore historical patterns of inequality. Milanovic's new book does not disappoint.-- (03/01/2016) Milanovic offers us not just a plethora of facts about income inequality that will surely make his readers think twice. More importantly, he shows us the power of bringing the facts into focus by putting a new lens over these pressing issues--a global perspective...If you do read it, your focus will be sharper, you will be able to see further, perhaps even globally, and your image of a whole host of public policy challenges will be clearer and much more nuanced.-- (04/01/2016) Milanovic provides an illuminating analysis.--Kirkus Reviews (03/01/2016) The data [Milanovic] provides offer a clearer picture of great economic puzzles, and his bold theorizing chips away at tired economic orthodoxies.--The Economist (04/02/2016) This outstanding book adds significantly to recent works by Thomas Piketty, Anthony Atkinson and Francois Bourguignon. Milanovic concludes that inequality is rising within most countries, although global inequality, albeit huge, has been falling. Unfortunately, he sees no end to the current upswing in inequality in the high-income countries. That creates disturbing political dangers.-- (12/02/2016) [Milanovic] brings fresh insights to one of today's most talked-about issues, clearing up confusion on the way.--Craig Calhoun"New Statesman" (06/10/2016) Milanovic is one of the first scholars of contemporary income inequality who globalized its study, not just comparing the landscape of income distribution country by country, but integrating all our viewpoints into a global panorama. This book, his latest research and thinking on i

Branko Milanovic is Senior Scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study Center, and Visiting Presidential Professor, Graduate Center, City University of New York.