A Converging or Diverging World?

This paper discusses some of the problems of method and data in measuring world inequality. It describes some recent attempts to do so and produces its own estimates. There is no simple answer to the question of whether or not the world is becoming more unequal. If a variety of methods are employed and compared, a complex answer emerges, showing that inequality is both declining in some ways and increasing in others. However, there has clearly been an enormous, recent increase in the gap between the very rich and the very poor.