Books About How Inequality Is Created and Passed On

Walter Scheidel compares periods when unusually large disruptions changed the distribution of wealth. The account of the Black Death, for example, considers how a changed labor supply shifted what surviving workers and owners could demand. Read it for a long historical comparison and to consider where the author’s explanation does and does not fit.

Jason Hickel argues that the distance between rich and poor countries has a history that runs through empire and the terms of global trade. His account of debt and economic policy explains why he thinks the terms of a relationship matter as much as the flow of aid. Choose it to examine one argument about how an international gap is reproduced.

Angus Deaton follows advances in health and living standards as they reach groups and countries at different times. An improvement can make the people who receive it much better off while leaving those still waiting farther behind. Choose it for a historical account that makes room for gains and widening differences in the same period.