Population and Sample Selection Effects in Measuring International Income Inequality

Authors

  • Salvatore Babones Johns Hopkins University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2002.274

Abstract

The issue of world income inequality has been debated widely in the literature. At issue is whether inequality has, on the whole, been increasing or decreasing over time. I reexamine results from Firebaugh?s (1999) seminal article on demographic e?ects on inequality, in which he found a 30-year ?plateau? of world income inequality when countries are weighted based on their populations. In contrast, I show that the increasing integration of market economies over the past decades has been re?ected in dramatically increasing international inequality. ?Inequality? as currently measured, however, may bear little resemblance to a naive under-standing of the term. I conclude with some preliminary ?gures from an alternate characterization of convergence and divergence, based on world-systems categories.

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Published

2002-02-26

How to Cite

Babones, S. (2002). Population and Sample Selection Effects in Measuring International Income Inequality. Journal of World-Systems Research, 8(1), 8–28. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2002.274

Issue

Volume 8, Issue 1, 2002

Section

Global Inequality Part I

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