<p>Here is a fairly instructive figure showing a cross-country measure of income inequality:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/VjG7F.png" alt="World Gini coefficient"></p>

<p>It shows that inequality was increasing for most of the last 35 years, but has started to decrease again recently. (You can read more at the source for this figure: <a href="http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/hot-topics/worldinequality.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/hot-topics/worldinequality.aspx</a>)</p>

<p>Once data is weighted by population, we see a longer-term trend for decreasing inequality (due to rapid growth in China and India, which contain around a third of the world's people:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/2lnHT.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>As @FooBar notes in a comment, a pattern of decreasing income inequality is consistent with economic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence_(economics)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">theories of convergence</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-11-23T03:42:37.800Z
I agree. While it may not be possible to answer the question with true/false only, I believe it is possible to answer it in the differentiated way as for example in this answer.
HRSE
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T19:32:52.330Z
Perfect answer for the question, exactly what I was gonna do later the day if I had the time. Shows that the question (despite being short) is a good one and deserves staying open.
FooBar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T16:51:00.407Z
2015-02-24T17:02:34.683Z
2015-02-24T17:02:34.683Z
Ubiquitous
<p>Mr. Yaron Brooks from the Ayn Rand Institute argues that global income inequality is decreasing. True/false?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T00:39:12.053Z
I don't see how that can possibly be substantiated by evidence
serakfalcon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T01:01:32.287Z
I vote to close because the answer does not provide essential information, like a summary of the arguments (like on what data was the claim based), links, or other relevant sources.
Alecos Papadopoulos
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T01:02:34.213Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because the OP does not provide essential information
Alecos Papadopoulos
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T12:28:50.540Z
To be fair, I couldn't either find Yaron's arguments in writing, just youtube discussions.
FooBar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T12:30:07.497Z
@serakfalcon Don't trust any statistics you didn't manipulate yourself. I'm pretty sure that while inequality within countries is increasing in most countries, inequality between countries (say, over means of income for each country) is decreasing, simply by convergence in growth.
FooBar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-24T17:25:28.863Z
where? Over what time intervals?
410 gone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-25T12:38:07.853Z
I do not understand why this has been put on hold. The question and answer both have positive rep and there are well-defined measures of global income inequality that can be used to answer the question.
Ubiquitous
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-25T20:42:41.090Z
Thomas Piketty and his co-authors have spent a lot of time collecting data to address this question. See this webpage: http://topincomes.g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/. This work has certainly made it seem more feasible to find an answer to the question posed here than to many other questions posed in this forum.
Tilman Borgers
<inequality>
Is income inequality decreasing?
user22852
# Is income inequality decreasing?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-02-23)

Mr. Yaron Brooks from the Ayn Rand Institute argues that global income inequality is decreasing. True/false?

**Tags:** inequality

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I don't see how that can possibly be substantiated by evidence  
> **username_2**: I vote to close because the answer does not provide essential information, like a summary of the arguments (like on what data was the claim based), links, or other relevant sources.  
> **username_2**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because the OP does not provide essential information  
> **username_3**: To be fair, I couldn't either find Yaron's arguments in writing, just youtube discussions.  
> **username_3**: @username_1 Don't trust any statistics you didn't manipulate yourself. I'm pretty sure that while inequality within countries is increasing in most countries, inequality between countries (say, over means of income for each country) is decreasing, simply by convergence in growth.  
> **username_4**: where? Over what time intervals?  
> **username_5**: I do not understand why this has been put on hold. The question and answer both have positive rep and there are well-defined measures of global income inequality that can be used to answer the question.  
> **username_6**: Thomas Piketty and his co-authors have spent a lot of time collecting data to address this question. See this webpage: http://topincomes.g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/. This work has certainly made it seem more feasible to find an answer to the question posed here than to many other questions posed in this forum.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2015-02-24. Score: 6

Here is a fairly instructive figure showing a cross-country measure of income inequality:

![World Gini coefficient](https://i.sstatic.net/VjG7F.png)

It shows that inequality was increasing for most of the last 35 years, but has started to decrease again recently. (You can read more at the source for this figure: <http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/hot-topics/worldinequality.aspx>)

Once data is weighted by population, we see a longer-term trend for decreasing inequality (due to rapid growth in China and India, which contain around a third of the world's people:

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/2lnHT.png)

As @username_3 notes in a comment, a pattern of decreasing income inequality is consistent with economic [theories of convergence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence_(economics)).

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Perfect answer for the question, exactly what I was gonna do later the day if I had the time. Shows that the question (despite being short) is a good one and deserves staying open.  
> **username_7**: I agree. While it may not be possible to answer the question with true/false only, I believe it is possible to answer it in the differentiated way as for example in this answer.  

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