Understanding Income Inequality – A Historical and Global Perspective

Part 1 of 5

Income inequality. Two words that signify more than a gap between the haves and the have-nots; they’re the seams tearing apart societies from within. What began as a natural disparity in skill and labor has morphed over centuries into a systemic distortion, where wealth doesn’t just accumulate—it entrenches itself. Today, we’ll dig deep into the roots of income inequality, dissecting its history, the shifting economic landscapes, and why this inequality has become a global epidemic.

What Is Income Inequality, Really?

Income inequality, at its core, is a tale of division. But we’re not talking mere pocket change. We’re talking the kind of separation that sees a sliver of humanity controlling a vast majority of resources, while billions scrape by. Economists measure this divide with tools like the Gini coefficient, a calculation that shows how evenly—or unevenly—wealth is spread. A Gini score of zero would mean perfect equality, while a score of one implies that one person owns everything…