Abstract
Did the inequality of income in the world rise or fall in the past twenty years? You can find economists on both sides of the issue. In this original, refreshing, comprehensive, and balanced analysis, economist Bob Sutcliffe analyzes the complex issues of data gathering and methodology. He finds that those who argue for either a sharp rise or fall in inequality are likely to be wrong. But if you take China's rapid growth out of the data, it looks more likely that inequality has risen. And there is little doubt that world income is far more unequal than it was a century ago.