Global Wealth Inequality

Gabriel Zucman

No 25462, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This article reviews the recent literature on the dynamics of global wealth inequality. I first reconcile available estimates of wealth inequality in the United States. Both surveys and tax data show that wealth inequality has increased dramatically since the 1980s, with a top 1% wealth share around 40% in 2016 vs. 25–30% in the 1980s. Second, I discuss the fast growing literature on wealth inequality across the world. Evidence points towards a rise in global wealth concentration: for China, Europe, and the United States combined, the top 1% wealth share has increased from 28% in 1980 to 33% today, while the bottom 75% share hovered around 10%. Recent studies, however, may under-estimate the level and rise of inequality, as financial globalization makes it increasingly hard to measure wealth at the top. I discuss how new data sources (leaks from financial institutions, tax amnesties, and macroeconomic statistics of tax havens) can be leveraged to better capture the wealth of the rich.

JEL-codes: D31 H26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna
Note: DEV EFG PE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (81)

Published as Gabriel Zucman, 2019. "Global Wealth Inequality," Annual Review of Economics, vol 11(1).

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w25462.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Global Wealth Inequality (2019)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25462

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w25462

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().