After the Financial Crisis: The Evolution of the Global Income Distribution Between 2008 and 2013

Using the newly created, and in terms of coverage and detail, the most complete household income data from more than 130 countries, the paper analyzes the changes in the global income distribution between 2008 and 2013. This was the period of the global financial crisis and recovery. It is shown that global inequality continued to decline, largely due to China’s growth that explains one-half of global Gini decrease between 2008 and 2013. Income growth of the global top 1 percent slowed significantly. The slowdown is present even after survey data are corrected for the likely underestimation of highest incomes. The paper ends with a discussion of the effects of the financial crisis in the light of an even more serious looming crisis caused by the 2019–20 pandemic.