Income Inequality Elephant Graph

We present new evidence on global inequality and growth since 1980 using the world and wealth income database.

Income inequality elephant graph. We do this in figure 2. Surprisingly the middle class of rich oecd countries were the one who felt disenfranchised left behind and generally unloved. The world inequality report by contrast. Their work demonstrates that better income measurements and inequality within countries are critical for understanding and ending global poverty.

It has become known as the elephant graph. I first read about the elephant chart in edward luce s the retreat of western liberalism affiliate link where the author explained how income inequality was a key factor in the global rise of protectionism and angry populism. Related articles the elephant curve of global inequality and growth. The top percentile of the global income distribution earns over 20 of total global income today.

In 2013 christoph lakner and branko milanovic published a graph quickly dubbed the elephant chart that depicts changes in income distribution across the world between 1988 and 2008. A powerful way to visualize the evolution of global income inequality dynamics is to plot the growth rate of at each percentile following lakner and milanovic 2016.