How Global Inequality Has Increased and Why It Matters

(Bloomberg) -- The world economy has generated unprecedented prosperity over the last 30 years, but the gains have been spread unevenly -- generally speaking, neither the middle class nor the bottom half have done well, according to Bloomberg Economics. Yet there are some notable exceptions: in the U.K. the decline in income of the richest after the global financial crisis and the increase of social security payments to the poorest slightly raised the share of income received by the bottom 50 percent. By contrast, the same group has suffered in Germany -- their situation largely deteriorated in the early 2000s, when the Hartz reforms chiseled away at state benefits for the unemployed.

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