Trends in economic growth and levels of wealth inequality in G20 nations: 2001–2013

9Citations
Citations of this article
14Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

During the first 13 years of the twenty-first century, the world economy experienced a period of economic volatility with a rapid boom followed by a strong contraction and then a prolonged recession. This volatility provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between economic growth and levels of wealth inequality. In this paper, I use data published by the World Bank to examine trends in economic growth; data published by Credit Suisse to examine trends in levels of wealth inequality; and data collated from the billionaires lists published by Forbes Magazine to examine the concentration of wealth at the very top of the distribution in the G20 nations. Overall, the results presented in this paper indicate that rapid economic growth was associated with increased wealth inequality and exceptionally large increases in the number of billionaires, whereas negative or low levels of economic growth were associated with declining or stable levels of wealth inequality and more moderate increases, or a decline, in the numbers of billionaires.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Chesters, J. (2016). Trends in economic growth and levels of wealth inequality in G20 nations: 2001–2013. Contemporary Social Science, 11(2–3), 270–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2016.1199891

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free