Branko Milanovic Featured on 'Marketplace' Regarding Wealth Inequality

Senior Scholar Branko Milanovic, a leading researcher on income inequality at the GC's Luxembourg Income Study Center, was featured in a 'Marketplace' news segment on the increasing concentration of the world's wealth.

The radio segment and accompanying article, "It's Official: The 1% Own Half the World's Wealth," are based on a recently released global wealth report from Credit Suisse. The top one percent of the world's wealthiest people now own half of all household wealth, and an increasing percentage of that wealth derives from stocks and bonds, according to the report.
 
The picture at the lower end of the income spectrum is becoming increasingly bleak, according to "Marketplace," citing Milanovic's assertion that 60 to 70 percent of people in poorer countries have zero net assets.

"If the financial assets do really well, then surely the gap between those who are at the very top and those who are at the middle goes up," he said.
 
Milanovic is the author of The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality. In addition to his work at the LIS Center, he is a Visiting Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center.