Milanovic, Branko2012-03-192012-03-192009-09-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/4237Using social tables, the author makes an estimate of global inequality (inequality among world citizens) in the early 19th century. The analysis shows that the level and composition of global inequality have changed over the past two centuries. The level has increased, reaching a high plateau around the 1950s, and the main determinants of global inequality have become differences in mean country incomes rather than inequalities within nations. The inequality extraction ratio (the percentage of total inequality that was extracted by global elites) has remained surprisingly stable, at around 70 percent of the maximum global Gini, during the past 100 years.CC BY 3.0 IGOAVERAGE INCOMEAVERAGE INCOME LEVELAVERAGE INCOMESBIASESCOUNTRY INEQUALITYCPIDEBTDECREASING INEQUALITYDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDISTRIBUTION OF INCOMEDOWNWARD BIASECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC PROGRESSECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC REVIEWFARMERSGDPGINI COEFFICIENTGLOBAL INEQUALITYGROWTH RATESHIGH GROWTHHIGH INEQUALITYHISTORICAL DATAHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVEHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSEHOLD SURVEY DATAHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSEHOLDSINCOMEINCOME DIFFERENCESINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME DISTRIBUTION DATAINCOME DISTRIBUTIONSINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELSINCOME SHAREINCOMESINDIVIDUAL COUNTRIESINEQUALITIESINEQUALITYINEQUALITY DATAINEQUALITY ESTIMATESINEQUALITY INDEXINTERNATIONAL BANKINTERNATIONAL INEQUALITYLABOR MARKETLOW INCOMEMEAN INCOMEMEAN INCOMESMERCHANTMERCHANTSOVERALL INEQUALITYPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLICY RESEARCHPOORPOPULATION SHAREPOWER PARITYPUBLIC POLICYPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYREAL GROWTHSOCIAL CLASSSOCIAL CLASSESSOURCE OF INFORMATIONTOTAL INEQUALITYWARWORLD INCOME INEQUALITYWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5044