The effects of globalization on income distribution in rich and poor countries are a matter of controversy. While international trade theory in its most abstract formulation implies that increased trade and foreign investment should make income distribution more equal in poor countries and less...

The old days in the now transition societies were characterized by stagnant incomes, rationed goods, and few civil liberties, but a high degree of income security. The early days of reform have brought crashing incomes, more goods, civil liberties, and rising insecurity. Most countries are set...

The author empirically explores the distributional impactof social transfers in cash and in-kind in Russia and Eastern Europe. He shows that cash transfers, on the whole, are distributed almost uniformly (equally per capita) regardless of one's position in income distribution. By contrast, in...

The paper presents a non-technical summary of the current state of debate on the measurement and implications of global inequality (inequality between citizens of the world). It discusses the relationship between globalization and global inequality. It shows why global inequality matters and...

The paper derives world income or expenditure distribution of individuals for two years 1988 and 1993. It is the first paper to calculate world distribution for individuals based entirely on household survey data from 91 countries, and adjusted for differences in purchasing power parity between...

The paper discusses recent world income inequality calculations by Sala- i-Martin. It shows that the two main problems with which the author had to grapple (too few data to derive countries’ income distributions, and sparseness of such data in time) are not solved in a satisfactory fashion....

One of the apparent inconsistencies in the breakup of multinational states is that, while the republics justified their decision by claiming they wanted increased sovereignty, the new states'strong desire to join the European Union shows their intention to dissipate this sovereignty. How can the...

The authors present a political economy model in which policy is the outcome of an interaction between three actors: government (G), managers and workers (W), and transfer recipients (P). The government's objective is to stay in power, for which it needs the support of either P or W. It can...

During Russia's economic transition real income declined precipitously for most of the population. How were Russians'perceptions of the minimum income level needed to survive affected by such a rapid decline in their incomes? Based on data collected from repeated surveys of individuals during...

The economic crisis that began in Poland in 1978 significantly reduced the population's average incomes and increased the proportion of the population living below the poverty line by 10 percentage points. The composition of thepoor has also changed. Before the crisis, most of the poor lived in...