Measuring the Evolution of Inequality in the Global Economy
INEQUALITY AND INDUSTRIAL CHANGE: A GLOBAL VIEW, Chapter 8, James K. Galbraith and Maureen Berner, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2001
15 Pages Posted: 14 Jun 2000 Last revised: 25 Apr 2011
Date Written: January 1, 1999
Abstract
This paper provides a summary of information in the UTIP data set on the evolution of industrial earnings inequality in the global economy. At present the data set covers 66 countries, with annual observations going back to 1972 in most cases and to 1963 in many. Our measure of changing inequality, based on the group-wise decomposition of the Theil statistic across industrial categories, appears to be a sensitive barometer of political and economic conditions in many countries, and the percentage change in this index appears to be meaningfully comparable across countries. We also measure and detect regional patterns of similarity in the movement of inequality through time.
JEL Classification: O15
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation