"The bottom third, with the exception of the very
poorest, became significantly better-off, and many people there escaped
absolute poverty."
Yes, that's probably the
most important finding. While it's true that, sadly, the bottom 5% haven't
crept out of poverty as fast as we'd hoped (they are the ones for whom the free
market still hasn't brought about the same benefits as everyone else), the rest
of the bottom third saw real incomes rising between 40% to 70%. In fact, look
at this data from CarpeDiem, which shows that in 1970 over 25% of the world's
population was in poverty. Forty years later that number is as low as 5%.
What the picture doesn't show,
of course, is that if we go back to before the Industrial Revolution almost all
of the world's population would be in poverty compared with standards of living
today. The reason that the bottom third have joined the rest of us and seen
their wealth rise so much is because a great many of the poorer workers in
emerging countries like China, India, Indonesia and Brazil have crept up into
the mid-range as their countries have benefited from globalisation and the
ability to trade more freely and openly.
The other thing you may
note is that it is, unsurprisingly, the top 1% that have seen their per capita
after-tax incomes rise the most. But that is only to be expected, as they are
the 1% of the world's population doing most to increase the wealth of those in
developing nations. And by the way, this top 1% isn't merely a handful of
corporate fat cats piling up the millions - it is a group of about sixty
million people earning over $50,000 a year. Given that people don't become
wealthy without providing goods and services that people want, and without
hiring staff to provide those goods and services, it is not difficult to
imagine how much those 1% of people are contributing to the well-being of
people in the world and to the rise of living standards across the globe.
You might also like to
note this graph below, which shows the more important fuller picture - that as
well as the increases of the top 1% and the bottom third, those who sit around
the median (those between the 50th and 60th percentile of global income
distribution) achieved an 80% real increase in incomes. It may be of interest
to you too to note that those that sit between the 75th and 90th percentile of
the global income distribution - what in the UK
If, as is happening, the
trade associated with the innovations of the richest 1% is helping to increase
the scope of the global market and bring the poorest 50% into higher standard
of living, we would expect to see those two groups experience income rises, and
also the concomitant effect of increase in inequality in the wealthier nations,
while at the same time see a decrease in inequality in the poorer nations. This
is exactly what we do find.
But although the free
market has been the main vehicle that has lifted us out of poverty and improved
the vast majority of human beings' standards of living - there is, as
mentioned, one group for whom this global success story still hasn't
materialised - and that's the poorest 5% of the world's people. It's important
that in being glad of all the good things the free market has done we don't
forget those that have yet to be beneficiaries - and that we continue to speak
out against (and where possible be proactive against) forces that remain a barrier to their progress.
