Michele Alacevich is Associate Professor of Economic History at the University of Bologna. He is a former director of global studies at Loyola University Maryland and a research fellow at Harvard University, Columbia University, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), and the World Bank. Anna Soci is Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna. She is a life-member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and was recently a research fellow at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University, and a Jemolo Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.

I would like to emphasize that it is exciting and appealing to read and study this small book. It is a smart and readable introduction to the issues of inequality from an economic and historic perspective and a good starting point for further in-depth analyses of the consequences of inequality as well as its policy implications.

• Introduction1. Why inequality is the real issue2. The long neglect of inequality3. The statistical drift of inequality studies4. Inequality and globalization5. Inequality and democracy: an open issue6. The future of inequalityAppendix: measures of inequality

Michele Alacevich is Associate Professor of Economic History at the University of Bologna. He is a former director of global studies at Loyola University Maryland and a research fellow at Harvard University, Columbia University, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), and the World Bank. Anna Soci is Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna. She is a life-member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and was recently a research fellow at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University, and a Jemolo Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.

I would like to emphasize that it is exciting and appealing to read and study this small book. It is a smart and readable introduction to the issues of inequality from an economic and historic perspective and a good starting point for further in-depth analyses of the consequences of inequality as well as its policy implications.

• Introduction1. Why inequality is the real issue2. The long neglect of inequality3. The statistical drift of inequality studies4. Inequality and globalization5. Inequality and democracy: an open issue6. The future of inequalityAppendix: measures of inequality