"Is inequality largely the result of the Industrial Revolution? Or, were pre-industrial incomes and life expectancies as unequal as they are today? For want of sufficient data, these questions have not yet been answered. This paper infers inequality for 14 ancient, pre-industrial societies using...

Global inequality between world citizens, using the new PPP data (just published as part of the 2005 ICP), is estimated to be about 70 Gini points. This is some 4-5 Gini points higher than previously thought. The increases are even greater if one uses the Theil index

Is inequality largely the result of the Industrial Revolution? Or, were pre-industrial incomes and life expectancies as unequal as they are today? For want of sufficient data, these questions have not yet been answered. This paper infers inequality for 14 ancient, pre-industrial societies using...