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J Econ Inequal (2013) 11:581583
DOI 10.1007/s10888-013-9250-y
Published online: 11 May 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Branko Milanovic, a lead economist at the World Bank research department, has been working on inequality for 25 years and is best known for his work on global inequality. Like many broad-minded intellectuals, with age his interests have turned towards history, and in his recent work he has re-examined his long-standing subject from a historical perspective. A break from his academic endeavours, this book is an informative, whimsical, original and highly entertaining history of inequality around the world.
The book comprises three chapters, each starting with a short essay which is then followed by seven to 10 short vignettes illustrating the theme. The first chapter, Unequal People or Inequality Among Individuals Within a Nation, starts with a discussion of a variety of standard topics in the field of inequality: Kuznetss theory of how inequality evolves during the course of economic development and the rather unsuccessful attempts to verify it empirically; the role of inequality in economic efficiency and growth; the relationship between inequality and social justice; and the measurement of inequality. Though the treatment of each topic is brief, this first essay would be a good introduction for undergraduates to the economics of inequality; graduate students could do worse than follow his Further Readings. For professionals in the field, this piece is also an interesting andas promised in the books titleidiosyncratic read, scattered with quotes from historical figures including de Tocqueville and Plato.
The vignettes that follow in the first chapter are both the most original and the most entertaining. They include analyses of inequality as experienced by the characters in Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice and Tolstoys Anna Karenina; inequality in Ancient Rome and 13th century Paris; and prognostications regarding the implications of inequality for stability in China in 2048.
In one vignette Milanovic asks who is the richest person in history, defining wealth in terms...