Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP12920
Authors: Leandro Prados de la Escosura
Abstract: This paper provides a long-run view of well-being inequality at world scale based on a new historical dataset. Trends in social dimensions alter the view on inequality derived from per capita GDP. While in terms of income, inequality increased until the third quarter of the twentieth century; in terms of well-being, inequality fell steadily since World War I. The spread of mass primary education and the health transitions were its main drivers. The gap between the West and the Rest explains only partially the evolution of well-being inequality, as the dispersion within the developing regions has increasingly determined its evolution.
Keywords: wellbeing; inequality; life expectancy; health transition; education; per capita GDP
JEL Codes: I00; N30; O15; O50
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| globalization of mass primary education (F60) | decline in wellbeing inequality (I14) |
| health transitions (I14) | decline in wellbeing inequality (I14) |
| spread of primary education (I24) | reduction in life expectancy inequality (I14) |
| first health transition (I15) | decline in life expectancy inequality (I14) |
| second health transition (I14) | rising health inequality (I14) |
| gap between the west and the rest (F01) | wellbeing inequality (I14) |
| dispersion within developing regions (O15) | wellbeing inequality (I14) |