In other words, they know what they’re talking about when it comes to money and world economies.
So when World Bank economist Branko Milanovic wrote a book on inequality around the world, it’s fair to say it had legitimate information.
In his book, Milanovic has a chart that shows inequality in the world by country and income class. The chart adjusts for the cost of living in different countries, so we are looking at consistent living standards worldwide.
There’s no denying that the incomes in the United States are largely unequal, but that doesn’t mean that America is poor.
The chart shows that the United States is a pretty rich country, even when you look at the bottom 5% of incomes. When it comes down to it, the poorest 5% in America, on average, are richer than 68% of world’s inhabitants!
Interestingly, this percentile is right where the richest people in India fall. So yes, the poorest 5% in the United States are, as a group, about as rich as India’s richest.
