5. What has happened to world income inequality is a matter of sharp dispute. Many analysts claim that world incomes converged in the second half of the 20th century, leading to a sharp reduction in world inequality. Many others report that the gap between the poorest and the richest people and countries has continued to widen over the last two decades. When a friend who writes about global inequality sorted through these studies, he came to this conclusion: “The wide range of different results of respected studies of world inequality in the last two decades casts doubt on the idea that world inequality has sharply and unambiguously declined or increased during the epoch of neoliberalism.” Assuming the friend has read them correctly and fairly, what do these studies imply about the globalization process?

(Radical)