The talk will discuss the evolution in global income inequality and focus on its political implications: in particular, the rise of the middle class in Asia, income stagnation of the rich countries’ middle classes, migration as part of globalization, and the emergence of global plutocracy (global top 1 percent).

Branko Milanovic joined the Graduate Center as Visiting Presidential Professor and LIS Senior Scholar in 2014. Before coming to the Graduate Center, he was Lead Economist in the World Bank's research department. He is author of The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality and numerous articles on the global income distribution. His most recent book is Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization (Harvard University Press 2016).