World Inequality Report 2026
Thomas Piketty author Lucas Chancel author Ricardo Gomez-Carrera author Rowaida Moshrif author Thomas Piketty editor Lucas Chancel editor Ricardo Gomez-Carrera editor Rowaida Moshrif editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Polity Press
Published:3rd Apr '26
Should be back in stock very soon
The World Inequality Report 2026 is the most authoritative and wide-ranging account available of global trends in inequality. Drawing on the work of more than 200 researchers worldwide, the report builds on the 2018 and 2022 editions to provide policymakers, scholars, and the wider public with up-to-date information about an ever-broader range of forms of inequality that have previously been hard to trace.
Inequality has increasingly taken center stage in public debate as the wealthiest individuals in most parts of the world have seen their share of economic resources rise sharply relative to the majority of the population. The resulting political, social, and climate pressures have created urgent new challenges for governments and a growing demand for reliable data. The World Inequality Lab, based at the Paris School of Economics, has responded by documenting and analyzing the evolution of income and wealth inequality across all regions of the world. This new report not only provides up-to-date evidence on the history of inequality and on disparities within and between regions, across gender, climate, and taxation, but also presents new analysis of financial privilege and unequal exchange in the global financial system and examines how inequality shapes political behavior.
The World Inequality Report 2026 will be an essential resource for anyone concerned about one of the most urgent and contentious subjects in contemporary politics and economics.
"We live in a system where resources extracted from labor and nature in low-income countries continue to sustain the prosperity and the unsustainable lifestyle of people in high-income economies and rich elites across countries. These patterns are not accidents of markets. They reject the legacy of history and the functioning of institutions, regulations, and policies—all of which are related to unequal power relations that have yet to be rebalanced."
Jayati Ghosh
"History, experiences across countries, and theory all show that today's extreme inequality is not inevitable. Progressive taxation, strong social investment, fair labor standards, and democratic institutions have narrowed gaps in the past—and can do so again. The World Inequality Report 2026 provides the empirical foundation and intellectual framework for what can be done."
Joseph E. Stiglitz
"Inequality is silent until it becomes scandalous. This report gives voice to inequality—and to the billions of people whose opportunities are frustrated by today's unequal social and economic structures."
Ricardo Gómez-Carrera
"The World Inequality Report 2026 is an outstanding achievement: the definitive resource to monitor the evolution of inequality globally, in all its dimensions. It is a true global public good and a vital input for the public conversation throughout the world. We should all be immensely thankful to its authors who are doing such a service by disseminating this knowledge, for the benefit of all."
Gabriel Zucman
ISBN: 9781509574865
Dimensions: 236mm x 160mm x 25mm
Weight: 499g
240 pages