Global Income Distribution: From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession

Christoph Lakner and Branko Milanovic

The World Bank Economic Review, 2016, vol. 30, issue 2, 203-232

Abstract: We present an improved panel database of national household surveys between 1988 and 2008. In 2008, the global Gini index is around 70.5%, having declined by approximately 2 Gini points. China graduated from the bottom ranks, changing a twin-peaked global income distribution to a single-peaked one and creating an important global "median" class. 90% of the fastest growing country-deciles are from Asia, while almost 90% of the worst performers are from mature economies. Another "winner" was the global top 1%. Hence the global growth incidence curve has a distinct supine S shape, with gains highest around the median and top.

Date: 2016
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Working Paper: Global income distribution: from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the great recession (2013)
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