Rising Inequality in India

An Oxfam report was recently released which underscores the dramatic increase in wealth inequality in India in recent years. In 2017 alone, the top 1 per cent of the population owned 73 per cent of the addition to wealth that occurred. A year ago, the top 1 per cent owned 58 per cent of the stock of wealth. Thus, its share, already phenomenal, is still increasing.

Of course, estimates of wealth, and hence its distribution, are highly problematic, but the dramatic growth of economic inequality in India is confirmed by authors using other data sources. French economists Thomas Piketty and Lucas ....