American inequality is on the rise. But global inequality is falling.

[applegrove]

American inequality is on the rise. But global inequality is falling.

Posted by Howard Schneider at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/13/american-inequality-is-on-the-rise-but-global-inequality-is-falling/?tid=rssfeed

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The middle-class citizens of the more affluent parts of the globe may not have been particularly interested in sacrificing jobs and incomes to give the rest of the world a fighting chance. But that is what in effect happened from 1988 to 2008, according to data that break down where incomes have risen or fallen.

On a global scale, inequality appears to have declined as tens of millions of formerly poor people in China, India and Brazil moved toward and into the middle class. (That finding is subject to an interesting qualification: The researchers try to correct their data for what they suspect is an underrepresentation of the richest individuals in national economic statistics around the world; it doesn’t take much of an adjustment in that class to offset what otherwise appears to be a more equal distribution of income around the world).

But at the same that this “bulge” of people has been doing better in the global economy, some groups – those who earn a lot by global standards but would be middle class in the richer countries – have been sliding lower.

As researchers Christoph Lakner and Branko Milanovic write, “China has ‘filled up’ the relatively hollow part of the global income distribution




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[kelly1mm]

1. This has been brought up several times over the years here at DU. Usually with not good results.

Most here on DU are US residents and when it comes down to it, want protectionism here.