The surprising finding of this book is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, global income inequality is decreasing. Critics of globalization and others maintain that the spread of consumer capitalism is dramatically polarizing the worldwide distribution of income. But as the demographer Glenn Firebaugh carefully shows, income inequality for the world peaked in the late twentieth century and is now heading downward because of declining income inequality across nations. Furthermore, as income inequality declines across nations, it is rising within nations (though not as rapidly as it is declining across nations). Firebaugh claims that this historic transition represents a new geography of global income inequality in the twenty-first century.
This book documents the new geography, describes its causes, and explains why other analysts have missed one of the defining features of our era-a transition in inequality that is reducing the importance of where a person is born in determining his or her future well-being.
The surprising finding of this book is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, global income inequality is decreasing. Critics of globalization and others maintain that the spread of consumer capitalism is dramatically polarizing the worldwide distribution of income. But as the demographer Glenn Firebaugh carefully shows, income inequality for the world peaked in the late twentieth century and is now heading downward because of declining income inequality across nations. Furthermore, as income inequality declines across nations, it is rising within nations (though not as rapidly as it is declining across nations). Firebaugh claims that this historic transition represents a new geography of global income inequality in the twenty-first century.
This book documents the new geography, describes its causes, and explains why other analysts have missed one of the defining features of our era-a transition in inequality that is reducing the importance of where a person is born in determining his or her future well-being.
Preface PART I. THE NEW GEOGRAPHY HYPOTHESIS 1. Massive Global Income Inequality: When Did It Arise and Why Does It Matter? The Growing World Income Pie Other Welfare Changes The Rise in Income Disparities over the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Why Nations? Why Not Focus on Poverty Rather than on Inequality? 2. The Reversal of Historical Inequality Trends Myths of the Trade Protest Model Causes of the Reversal: An Overview The Inequality Transition PART II. MEASUREMENT 3. How Is National Income Measured, and Can We Trust the Data? How Is National Income Measured? Are Income Estimates Plausible? Are the Historical Income Data Reliable Enough? Are the Contemporary Income Data Reliable Enough? Measuring Income over Time Appendix A3: Adjusting for Household Economies in Poor
This work is likely to become a classic in the study of inequality. It is particularly important because in assuring the reader that the research is grounded in sound methodological scholarship, Firebaugh does not lose sight of the importance of the questions he is addressing. His book is a powerful stimulus for further research in this and related fields; future research will have to address Firebaugh's argument before making any additional claims about the state of world income inequality. -- Lisa Keister, author of Wealth in America
Glenn Firebaugh is Professor and Chair in the Department of Sociology at Pennsylvania State University.
If you want to understand how global income equality has evolved in
recent decades and why, look no further. Glenn Firebaugh has
provided the most complete, thoughtful, and intriguing study on the
subject, The New Geography of Global Income Inequality… This is an
outstanding book, showcasing what sociology can offer by enhancing
our empirical knowledge of the world… Firebaugh’s argument is
articulate, forceful, and well-presented. All who are concerned
with issues of income inequality, scholars and laypersons alike,
will find much to learn from this book, as will students seeking to
master the art of conducting empirical social science. For these
reasons, I highly recommend Firebaugh’s latest contribution.
*American Journal of Sociology*
Glenn Firebaugh has produced a book of remarkable clarity and depth
on a subject of enormous complexity and importance. His findings
are groundbreaking and backed up by concurrent research in
economics: The recent era of globalization has witnessed less
rather than more income inequality between nations.
*Contemporary Sociology*
Firebaugh punctures the widely held myth that the world’s income
inequality is increasing, convincingly contending that because of
the decline of between-nation inequality, global inequality is
falling… While Robert Barro, Branko Milanovic, Francois
Bourguignon, Christian Morrison, and Firebaugh himself have
presented some of these findings in articles, no scholar matches
Firebaugh in bringing these major findings together in a monograph
that is clearly written, well-organized, and methodologically
sound.
*Choice*
This work is likely to become a classic in the study of inequality.
It is particularly important because in assuring the reader that
the research is grounded in sound methodological scholarship,
Firebaugh does not lose sight of the importance of the questions he
is addressing. His book is a powerful stimulus for further research
in this and related fields; future research will have to address
Firebaugh’s argument before making any additional claims about the
state of world income inequality.
*Lisa Keister, author of Wealth in America*
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