Supplemental: Within and Between

The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World, Branko Milanovic, 2025.

There are many charts and tables in The Great Global Transformation. Here is a selection of some that I mentioned in my review, and some which I did not.

I found this chart particularly striking, because it instantly reveals two key facts: first, that the USA still overwhelmingly dominates the top 5% of earners globally (the global elite); and second, that China’s share of this group has risen rapidly, even if from a low level. As I mentioned in the review, Milanovic shows that, if you assume a GDP growth rate gap of 3% or more between the US and China over the next decades, this chart could change drastically. Given its population, China does not need to catch the US in GDP per capita to meet/overtake its dominance of the higher echelons of income on an absolute basis.