Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality - Hardcover

Milanovic, Branko

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465019749 ISBN 13: 9780465019748

Publisher: Basic Books, 2011

Synopsis

Who is the richest person in the world, ever? Does where you were born affect how much money you'll earn over a lifetime? How would we know? Why--beyond the idle curiosity--do these questions even matter? In The Haves and the Have-Nots, Branko Milanovic, one of the world's leading experts on wealth, poverty, and the gap that separates them, explains these and other mysteries of how wealth is unevenly spread throughout our world, now and through time. Milanovic uses history, literature and stories straight out of today's newspapers, to discuss one of the major divisions in our social lives: between the haves and the have-nots. He reveals just how rich Elizabeth Bennet's suitor Mr. Darcy really was; how much Anna Karenina gained by falling in love; how wealthy ancient Romans compare to today's super-rich; where in Kenyan income distribution was Obama's grandfather; how we should think about Marxism in a modern world; and how location where one is born determines his wealth. He goes beyond mere entertainment to explain why inequality matters, how it damages our economics prospects, and how it can threaten the foundations of the social order that we take for granted. Bold, engaging, and illuminating, The Haves and the Have-Nots teaches us not only how to think about inequality, but why we should.

About this title

Review:

"If you have the slightest interest in politics and macro-economics, you should be (in possession of the book). When Milanovic gets serious, he becomes indispensable."
--The Spectator

Book Description:

A wonderful new book, Milanovic, who has made international inequality his life’s work, shows, with devastating logic, just how far we still have to go.', Globe and Mail (Toronto)

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0465019749
• ISBN 13: 9780465019748
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272