What will I learn about: how inequality evolves alongside societal development, shifting from an initial increase during industrialization to a gradual decrease driven by education and progressive policies?

Understand how inequality evolves alongside societal development, shifting from an initial increase during industrialization to a gradual decrease driven by education and progressive policies.

What will I learn about: why inequality is often compared to cholesterol, capable of functioning as a 'good' motivator for innovation or a 'bad' force that stifles creativity and economic efficiency?

Discover why inequality is often compared to cholesterol, capable of functioning as a 'good' motivator for innovation or a 'bad' force that stifles creativity and economic efficiency.

What will I learn about: Explore the deep connection between inequality and economic justice, where disparities rooted in discrimination are actively challenged by populations demanding fairer social arrangements?

Explore the deep connection between inequality and economic justice, where disparities rooted in discrimination are actively challenged by populations demanding fairer social arrangements.

What will I learn about: Learn how economists quantify the complex diversity of income distribution using the Gini coefficient, a metric that scores nations on a scale from perfect equality to maximum disparity?

Learn how economists quantify the complex diversity of income distribution using the Gini coefficient, a metric that scores nations on a scale from perfect equality to maximum disparity.

What will I learn about: how wealth and inequality can be compared across vastly different historical eras and countries through the mathematical application of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)?

Find out how wealth and inequality can be compared across vastly different historical eras and countries through the mathematical application of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

The Haves and the Have-Nots

A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality

Branko Milanović

★ 4.3 / 5(21 ratings)

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Categories:

Economics Society & Culture

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡Have you ever wondered why your place of birth might be a more significant predictor of your lifetime wealth than your education or hard work?
💡Did you know that the level of global inequality we see today is fundamentally different from anything experienced in the eras of Napoleon or the Roman Empire?
💡Are you curious about whether it’s more important to fix the wealth gap within your own country or the staggering divide between the world's richest and poorest nations?

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Key Takeaways from The Haves and the Have-Nots

✓Understand how inequality evolves alongside societal development, shifting from an initial increase during industrialization to a gradual decrease driven by education and progressive policies.
✓Discover why inequality is often compared to cholesterol, capable of functioning as a 'good' motivator for innovation or a 'bad' force that stifles creativity and economic efficiency.
✓Explore the deep connection between inequality and economic justice, where disparities rooted in discrimination are actively challenged by populations demanding fairer social arrangements.
✓Learn how economists quantify the complex diversity of income distribution using the Gini coefficient, a metric that scores nations on a scale from perfect equality to maximum disparity.
✓Find out how wealth and inequality can be compared across vastly different historical eras and countries through the mathematical application of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from The Haves and the Have-Nots

Mind Map

The Haves and the Have-Nots

Impact & Ethics of Inequality+

Historical Theories+

Measurement Methods+

Economic Systems+

International Inequality+

The Birth Lottery+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 9

How did Simon Kuznets's theory challenge Vilfredo Pareto's views on inequality?

A. Kuznets believed that social arrangements and economic development stages directly impact income inequality, whereas Pareto believed inequality remained constant regardless of the system.
B. Kuznets argued that capitalism inherently creates less inequality than socialism, while Pareto believed the opposite.
C. Kuznets proposed the 80/20 rule, showing that a small percentage of causes always dictate the majority of economic effects.
D. Kuznets believed inequality is solely determined by a person's place of birth, whereas Pareto focused on class struggle.

Question 2 of 9

According to the text, under what circumstances is inequality considered a 'positive' thing for society?

A. When it concentrates wealth at the top so that the elite can invest heavily in foreign markets.
B. When it creates protected positions for a small segment of the population, ensuring societal stability.
C. When it is the result of inheritance, allowing families to build generational wealth that stabilizes the economy.
D. When it motivates individuals to work hard and pursue groundbreaking entrepreneurial projects, thereby facilitating economic growth.

Question 3 of 9

What does a Gini coefficient of zero indicate?

A. Maximum inequality, where one individual holds the income of the entire community.
B. No inequality whatsoever, meaning everyone has the exact same income.
C. A society where the top 20% controls 80% of the wealth.
D. A society that has transitioned completely from an agricultural to an industrial economy.

Question 4 of 9

What unique metric was used to conclude that John D. Rockefeller was historically richer than Bill Gates?

A. The Gini coefficient of their respective eras.
B. Converting their wealth into standard Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars.
C. Measuring their income by its ability to purchase human labor.
D. Comparing their fortunes to the gross domestic product (GDP) of their respective countries.

Question 5 of 9

What was the primary downside of the high level of equality achieved in 20th-century socialist systems?

A. It led to a massive outflow of capital to wealthy capitalist nations.
B. It caused a sharp increase in the Gini coefficient over a very short period of time.
C. It resulted in citizens having little incentive to work hard, innovate, or be creative.
D. It created an overly competitive environment where citizens fought for limited state resources.

Question 6 of 9

What is the 'Lucas Paradox'?

A. The phenomenon where industrialization initially increases inequality before progressive policies decrease it.
B. The tendency for capital to circulate among rich countries rather than flowing from rich countries to poor countries.
C. The observation that socialist countries often have corrupt leaders despite egalitarian ideals.
D. The tendency for the poorest 20% of a population to consume 80% of social services.

Question 7 of 9

According to the text, what two factors combined account for more than 80 percent of a person's income today?

A. Education level and personal work ethic.
B. Gender and race.
C. Place of birth and parents' income class.
D. The economic system of their country (capitalism vs. socialism) and their chosen profession.

Question 8 of 9

Why does almost none of the 'global middle class' come from developed countries?

A. Because developed countries have almost entirely eliminated the middle class, leaving only the extremely rich and the extremely poor.
B. Because developed countries do not collect reliable household survey data to measure their middle class accurately.
C. Because the middle class in developed countries invests their money abroad, excluding them from domestic measurements.
D. Because the upper-income boundary of the global middle class is lower than the poverty threshold of rich countries.

Question 9 of 9

How does the root cause of inequality in the European Union differ from that of the United States?

A. In the EU, inequality is primarily caused by disparities between different member countries, whereas in the US, rich and poor are dispersed throughout the country.
B. The EU suffers from extreme class-based inequality within its cities, while the US suffers mostly from rural-versus-urban inequality.
C. The EU's inequality is driven by its lack of a global middle class, while the US has a massive global middle class.
D. Inequality in the EU is due to a lack of progressive tax policies, whereas US inequality is caused by the Lucas Paradox.

The Haves and the Have-Nots — Full Chapter Overview

1Recommendation
2Inequality among individuals can vary as society evolves over time.
3Inequality is tied to both economic growth and economic justice.
4Though inequality can be measured in several ways, it remains hard to do. For now, we still use Gini.
5We can compare the inequalities of nations and individuals across different eras.
6Although socialism is more egalitarian than capitalism, it reduces people's incentives to work.
7Inequality between countries arose after the Industrial Revolution and has kept on rising.
8Place of birth and family income class can make improving one’s financial position in a country very difficult.
9We can assess inequality across nations by examining Gini scores and the global middle class.

The Haves and the Have-Nots Summary & Overview

The Haves and the Have-Nots (2010) shows how inequality throughout history has made its mark on society at large. These blinks explore three types of inequality: inequality among individuals in a single country; inequality among countries; and global inequality, or inequality among all the world’s citizens.

Who Should Listen to The Haves and the Have-Nots?

Students interested in politics and global justice
People curious about global economics

About the Author: Branko Milanović

Branko Milanović is a specialist on inequality and poverty. He is the visiting presidential professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and an affiliated senior scholar at the LIS Cross-National Data Center. He was formerly a lead economist with the World Bank's research department and visiting professor at University of Maryland and at Johns Hopkins University. Milanović is the author of Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization.

The Haves and the Have-Nots

If You're Curious About These Questions...

Listen to The Haves and the Have-Nots — Free Audiobook

Key Takeaways from The Haves and the Have-Nots

Learning Tools

Mind Map

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

The Haves and the Have-Nots — Full Chapter Overview

The Haves and the Have-Nots Summary & Overview

Who Should Listen to The Haves and the Have-Nots?

About the Author: Branko Milanović

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