This note, working from the basis of the author's prior paper, argues that the relatively high consumption standard associated with American "middle classness" was defined by the requirements of providing a household a minimum of comfort, mobility, security and economic opportunity in a context...

Over the last three decades, the wealth-to-income ratio (WIR) in many Western countries, particularly in Europe and North America, increased by a factor of two. This represents a defining empirical trend: a rewealthization (from the French repatrimonialisation) – or the comeback of (inherited)...

Indonesia has seen tremendous progress in poverty reduction over the past couple of decades and, as a result, has made a successful transition from low-income to middle-income country status. As millions have moved out of poverty and extreme poverty, we have also witnessed the rise of...

This volume presents cross-nationally comparative evidence on income inequality trends, women's employment and its effect on inequality, the distribution of wealth, and the interaction of politics with inequality across several mainly high-income countries.

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...