msemakweli
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 20, 2014
- 1,627
- 880
Does inequality matter? What are the effects of wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few individuals?
Well, if you believe some of the world's most respected economists – people like Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz, Branco Milanovic, Wilkinson and Pickett – it matters. And they say it is getting worse. The World Bank and the IMF made "shared prosperity" the theme of their annual meeting this year, and the IMF head, Christine Lagarde, described the rise in global inequality as "staggering". Just in the past week, Bill Gates, the Financial Times and the (UK) Guardian have all made the case that inequality matters.
At the global level, Oxfam famously found that the world's richest 85 people own as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people – half the world's population. And The Rules put together a great video showing wealth inequalities on a global scale, itself inspired by similar work focussed on the US.
But what about inequality here in East Africa?
Inspired by Oxfam and The Rules, I thought I would see whether I could do something similar covering Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, for Blog Action Day 2014. The theme this year is inequality.
My analysis uses data from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2013 and Forbes "Africa's 50 Richest" on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The conclusions are striking:
lawmaina78 Geza Ulole hbuyosh Koborer waltham Askari Kanzu
Well, if you believe some of the world's most respected economists – people like Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz, Branco Milanovic, Wilkinson and Pickett – it matters. And they say it is getting worse. The World Bank and the IMF made "shared prosperity" the theme of their annual meeting this year, and the IMF head, Christine Lagarde, described the rise in global inequality as "staggering". Just in the past week, Bill Gates, the Financial Times and the (UK) Guardian have all made the case that inequality matters.
At the global level, Oxfam famously found that the world's richest 85 people own as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people – half the world's population. And The Rules put together a great video showing wealth inequalities on a global scale, itself inspired by similar work focussed on the US.
But what about inequality here in East Africa?
Inspired by Oxfam and The Rules, I thought I would see whether I could do something similar covering Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, for Blog Action Day 2014. The theme this year is inequality.
My analysis uses data from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2013 and Forbes "Africa's 50 Richest" on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The conclusions are striking:
lawmaina78 Geza Ulole hbuyosh Koborer waltham Askari Kanzu
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