'Columbia University Libraries/Information Services'
Doi
Abstract
Questions about global income inequality inspire some of the most contentious debates among not only academics but politicians and the public at large. People look to data on income inequality as they might a stock market index to gauge how the world is doing. Are things on the right track? Is enough being done? In this age of globalization, the question is inevitably about whether 'Globalisation' – meaning liberalisation of economies and the integration of global trade and capital flows – brings prosperity or not. The controversies raging today over the many studies coming to different conclusions depend on how the questions are asked, and which data series are used. Such debates indicate little more than how economists and statisticians can find many answers to the seemingly same questions. More fundamentally, these debates mask attention on the growing disparities in human lives
