Tuesday, December 05, 2006

They are even richer than I thought.

The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of all household wealth, according to a new study by a United Nations research institute.

But what is new about this report, the authors say, is its coverage.
It deals with all countries in the world - either actual data or estimates based on statistical analysis - and it deals with wealth, where most previous research has looked at income. What they mean by wealth in this study is what people own, less what they owe - their debts. The assets include land, buildings, animals and financial assets.

1 comment:

Matthew Culbert said...

It is good to get more recent figures but even here we are talking year 2000.
It is certainly comprehensive,but the conclusion of this article makes for gloomy reading,
"The report is not about policy recommendations.
But one of the authors, Professor Anthony Shorrocks, says it does draw attention to the importance of enhancing banking systems in developing countries to help generate the funds for business investment."

So more of the same capitalist poison.Investment in wage-slavery to make profits for a few.