Tracking the Rise in Global Economic Inequality: new evidence from the world inequality report 2018 [Audio]

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Speaker(s): Lucas Chancel, Duncan Green, Rebecca Simson, Paul Segal | The first World Inequality Report (WIR2018), documents a sharp rise in global economic inequality since the 1980s despite strong growth in emerging economies. It also discusses country-to-country inequality trajectories (including UK's wealth inequality dynamics) and highlights the importance of policy-making in the diverging trends observed across countries and world regions. The report, first launched in December last year at the Paris School of Economics, was coordinated by Facundo Alvaredo, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman. It draws from new findings of the World Wealth and Income Database (a project which regroups more than 100 researchers all over the world) and provides the first systemic assessment of globalization in terms of income and wealth inequality since 1980. This discussion will examine the implications of the report findings.