Forces affecting the development of the distribution of income in OECD-countries are investigated by analyzing an unbalanced panel with information covering 16 countries from 1966 to 1994. Income inequality is measured with the Gini-coefficient of equivalent disposable income. The results...

This paper uses LIS data to calculate poverty lines for ten countries - setting the poverty line equal to the average disposable income for families in the working age but have no income from working or capital.

Defining the 'global middle class' as being neither poor nor rich in the developed world, we estimate the size of the global middle class in China and 33 other countries and analyze China's expanding middle class in international perspective. China's global middle class has grown rapidly and has...