Cross-national income inequality: How great is it and what can we learn from it?

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the topic of income d istribution in a cross-national context. A secular growth of income inequal ity has taken place over the past two decades affecting almost every rich n ation, matched by the growth in comparable household income inequality data which makes these types of comparisons possible. While clear patterns of d isposable income inequality differences are found in both level and trend, we are still a long way from explaining why these differences came about, w hether they will continue to grow or stabilize, and what the social consequ ences of these changes might be.