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American Economic Review Vol. 92 No. 4 2002

Inequality Among World Citizens: 1820–1992

François Bourguignon1; Christian Morrisson2

1 Delta, 48 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France and World Bank. · 2 University Paris I and Delta, 36 Chemin Desvallières, 92410 Ville d'Avray, France.

Abstract

This paper investigates the distribution of well being among world citizens during the last two centuries. The estimates show that inequality of world distribution of income worsened from the beginning of the 19th century to World War II and after that seems to have stabilized or to have grown more slowly. In the early 19th century most inequality was due to differences within countries; later, it was due to differences between countries. Inequality in longevity, also increased during the 19th century, but then was reversed in the second half of the 20th century, perhaps mitigating the failure of income inequality to improve in the last decades.

DOI
10.1257/00028280260344443
Volume
92
Issue
4
Pages
727-744
Language
en
Sources
crossref openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib

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