The Book of Inequalities

If one wants to examine some extremes, maybe get some motivation about own's research, one could have a look at Bob Sutcliffe's "100 Ways of Seeing an Unequal World" (Zed Books Ltd., 2001). The book summarizes key world statistics in a variety of different topics e.g. income inequality, distribution of land, foreign investment, migration, discrimination and different kinds of bias, as well as the environment.

Some examples of conclusions include:

- At the end of the 20th century, the most indebted country was the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a debt that equaled more than seven years of national income.

- Comparative degrees of income inequality show that inequality in the UK and the USA is much greater than in India.

- A significant fall in the share of least developed countries in world trade (1950-1996).

- The women's share of earnings is under 50% for all listed countries, highest for Tanzania and Sweden and lowest for Argentina and Iran.

- On average about a quarter of a hector of cultivable land should be available per person, yet the land distribution is very different... e.g Kazakhstan has over 20 times as much land per head as Bangladesh.

Distribution of economic and demographic indicators between the countries of the North and the countries of the South.

One tends to nod at seeing many of the findings. Most of the information shouldn't be taken out of it context and special care should be taken in some cross-border comparisons (like for instance the relative share of women's earnings in Tanzania and Sweden could have different underlying reasons.) The book reminds of a nice encyclopedia and its illustrative design could appeal to the general public.