World Inequality Report 2022

by Lucas Chancel (Editor), Thomas Piketty (Editor), Emmanuel Saez (Editor), Gabriel Zucman (Editor)

Overview

Produced by a team of world-leading economists, this is the benchmark account of recent and historical trends in inequality.

World Inequality Report 2022 is the most authoritative and comprehensive account available of global trends in inequality. Researched, compiled, and written by a team of world-leading economists, the report builds on the pioneering edition of 2018 to provide policy makers and scholars everywhere up-to-date information about an ever broader range of countries and about forms of inequality that researchers have previously ignored or found hard to trace.

Over the past decade, inequality has taken center stage in public debate as the wealthiest people in most parts of the world have seen their share of the economy soar relative to that of others. The resulting political and social pressures have posed harsh new challenges for governments and created a pressing demand for reliable data. The World Inequality Lab, housed at the Paris School of Economics and the University of California, Berkeley, has answered this call by coordinating research into the latest trends in the accumulation and distribution of income and wealth on every continent. This new report not only extends the lab’s international reach but provides crucial new information about the history of inequality, gender inequality, environmental inequalities, and trends in international tax reform and redistribution.

World Inequality Report 2022 will be a key document for anyone concerned about one of the most imperative and contentious subjects in contemporary politics and economics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674276581
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Lucas Chancel is Affiliate Professor at Sciences Po and Codirector of the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics.

Thomas Piketty is Professor of Economics and Economic History at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and the Paris School of Economics. His books include A Brief History of Equality, Capital and Ideology, and the bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

Emmanuel Saez is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Center for Equitable Growth.

Gabriel Zucman is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the EU Tax Observatory.

Table of Contents

Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Executive Summary Introduction Chapter 1: Global Economic Inequality: Insights Global Income and Wealth Inequality Between Individuals: Initial Insights Global Income and Wealth Inequality Between Countries Income Inequality Varies Significantly Across Regions The Geographical Repartition of Global Incomes The Limited Impact of Redistribution on Global Inequality The Complementarity Between Predistribution and Redistribution The Extreme Concentration of Capital Box 1.2 The WID.world and Distributional National Accounts Project Box 1.3 The Rich Ecosystem of Global Inequality Data Sets Box 1.5 Impact of the Covid Shock on Inequality Within Countries Box 1.6 What is the Relationship Between Gross Domestic Product, National Income and National Wealth? Box 1.7 Comparing Incomes, Assets and Purchasing Power Across the Globe Chapter 2: Global Inequality from 1820 to Now: The Persistence and Mutation of Extreme Inequality Global Inequality Rose Between 1820 and 1910, and Stabilized at a High Level Since Then Within-Country and Between-Country Inequalities Are As Great in 2020 As in 1910 The Global Economic Elite Never Fully Recovered Its Belle Époque Opulence The Regional Decomposition of Global Inequality: Back to 1820? Understanding the Roots of Global Economic Inequality: Center and Periphery Imbalances Global Inequality Within Countries is Higher Than Inequality Between Countries – Which Remains Significant Box 2.1 Global Inequality: Beyond Income Measures Chapter 3: Rich Countries, Poor Governments What is Wealth and What Does Owning Capital Mean? Global Private and Public Wealth: Insights The Secular Fall of Public Wealth was Exacerbated by the Covid-19 Crisis The Rise of Private Wealth in Emerging Countries The Decline of Public Wealth Across the World Net Foreign Wealth has Largely Increased in East Asia and Fallen in North America Financialization Increased Everywhere Since 1980, But at Different Speeds Economies are Increasingly Owned by Foreigners But Some have Resisted This Trend More Than Others Box 3.1 How do We Measure Wealth Inequality Within Countries? Chapter 4: Global Wealth Inequality: The Rise of Multimillionaires Global Wealth Data Remain Opaque How Large is Global Wealth and Where is It Held? The Uneven Increase in Wealth Since the 1990s Extreme Growth at the Very Top The Evolution of Wealth Inequality in Rich Countries Wealth Inequality in Emerging Countries What is Driving Global Wealth Inequality? Box 4.2 How Do We Measure Wealth Inequality? Chapter 5: Half the Sky? The Female Labor Income Share from a Global Perspective Female Labor Income Share Across the World Today: Regional Divides Evolution of Women’s Income Share Across the World Women Earn Just a Third of Labor Income Across the Globe The Role of Pay Ratios vs. Employment Ratios Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women at the Top of the Wage Distribution Box 5.1 Methodology Box 5.2 Gender Inequality Metrics Chapter 6: Global Carbon Inequality The Need for Better Monitoring of Global Ecological Inequalities Global Carbon Inequality: Initial Insights Emissions Embedded in Goods and Services Increase Carbon Inequalities Between Regions Per Capita Emissions Have Risen Substantially Among the Global Top 1% Inequalities Within Countries Now Represent the Bulk of Global Emissions Inequality Addressing the Climate Challenge in Unequal Societies Box 6.1 Measuring Carbon Inequality Between Individuals Box 6.2 Carbon Footprints of the Very Wealthy Chapter 7: The Road to Redistributing Wealth Why Tax Wealth? Modernizing Personal Wealth Taxation Estimates for a Global Progressive Wealth Tax Regional Wealth Tax Estimates Factoring-in Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxation Box 7.1 Learning from Past and Current Examples of Progressive Wealth Taxation Chapter 8: Taxing Multinationals or Taxing Wealthy Individuals? The Role of Corporate Tax in the Progressivity of the Tax System The Decline in Corporate Taxation Since the 1980s The Promises and Pitfalls of Minimum Taxation Chapter 9: Global vs Unilateral Perspectives on Tax Justice Usefulness of Unilateral Approaches: The Case of FATCA Estimates of Unilateral vs. Multilateral Tax Deficit Collection Anti-tax Evasion Schemes Contain Many Loopholes and Cannot be Assessed Properly Assessing the Road Towards Tax Transparency: Publishing Basic Information Towards a Global Asset Register Box 9.1 Central Security Depositories as Building Blocks for a Global Financial Register Chapter 10: Emancipation, Redistribution and Sustainability The Rise of the Welfare State in Rich Countries (1910-1980) The Limited Rise of Tax Revenue and Public Spending in Emerging Countries Since 1980 Lessons from Failed Trickle-Down Economics The 1980-2020s Have Been Marked by a Rise of Tax Evasion, Further Undermining Tax Progressivity Using 21st-Century Progressive Tax Revenue to Invest in Education, Healthcare and the Environment Box 10.1 One-Off Wealth Taxes: A Window of Opportunity? Ending Center-Periphery Imbalances Box 10.2 Unequal Access to Healthcare: How the Covid Crisis Revealed and Exacerbated Healthcare Inequalities Between Countries Country-sheets Glossary Algeria Argentina Australia Brazil Canada Chile China France Germany India Indonesia Israel Italy Japan Mexico Morocco Nigeria Poland Russia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Turkey United Kingdom United States

Editorial Reviews

The study’s findings add to a debate about worsening inequality during a public health crisis that’s hurt developing economies—which are short of vaccines as well as financial resources to cushion the blow—even more than advanced ones. Within the rich world too, financial and real-estate markets have soared since the depths of the slump last year, widening domestic gaps.

Bloomberg

[The World Inequality Report] finds that the fortunes of the super-rich have grown exponentially in recent years thanks to financial assets…In 2021, 10% of the richest people in the world held more than 52% of the world’s income while the poor held only 8.5%…The observations are clear: the biggest fortunes have been enriched since the coronavirus pandemic.

France Vanity Fair

The 2022 World Inequality Report, a huge undertaking coordinated by economic and inequality experts Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman, was the product of four years of research and produced an unprecedented data set on just how wealth is distributed…The data serves as a complete rebuke of the trickle-down economic theory.

Business Insider

The World Inequality Report said that 2020 saw the steepest increase in billionaires’ wealth on record. Meanwhile, 100 million people sank into extreme poverty…To help redress the imbalance, the economists call for a ‘modest progressive wealth tax on global multi-millionaires’ in order to redistribute wealth. They also call for tougher action on tax evasion.

BBC News