Branko Milanović

Branko Milanović. He is a Serbian-American economist renowned for his pioneering research on global inequality and the global income distribution. A former lead economist in the World Bank's research department, his work has profoundly shaped the understanding of income inequality within and between nations. He is currently a senior scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at the CUNY Graduate Center and a professor at the City University of New York.

Early life and education

Born in Belgrade in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he completed his undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of Belgrade. He earned his doctorate from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics, where his early academic focus was shaped by the economic system of his native country. His formative years in Yugoslavia provided a unique perspective on socialist economics and income distribution, which later informed his comparative analyses of global economic systems. This background positioned him to critically examine the transitions of post-communist economies in Eastern Europe.

Academic career

His professional career began with a long tenure at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where he served as a lead research economist. Following his time at the World Bank, he held positions as a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and as a visiting professor at institutions like the University of Maryland, College Park and the Johns Hopkins University. In 2014, he joined the Graduate Center, CUNY as a presidential professor, and later became a senior scholar at its Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality. He has also been a frequent contributor to publications like the Financial Times and the Guardian.

Research and contributions

His most influential contribution is the empirical analysis of global inequality, notably through the construction of detailed datasets on household income across countries. He is famous for visualizing changes in the global income distribution through the "elephant chart", which illustrates income growth across global percentiles from the late 20th to early 21st centuries. His work critically engages with Simon Kuznets's theories on inequality, exploring modern versions of the Kuznets curve in a globalized context. He has extensively studied the rise of plutocracy and the concept of global income inequality, arguing that the main cleavage in the world is between the citizens of rich nations and those of developing countries.

Publications

He is the author of several influential books that have been translated into multiple languages. His seminal work, Worlds Apart: Measuring International and Global Inequality (2005), established his reputation in the field. This was followed by The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality (2011). His most widely cited book, Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization (2016), won the Bruno Kreisky Prize for best political book. His later works include Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World (2019) and The Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War (2023).

Awards and recognition

In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought by the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. His book Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization received the Bruno Kreisky Prize in 2017. He is a two-time recipient of the Hans-Matthöfer-Preis for economic writing. His research is frequently cited in major media outlets, including the Economist, the New York Times, and the BBC, and he is regularly listed among the world's most influential economists by Reuters and Prospect magazine.

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:Serbian economists Category:American economists Category:World Bank economists Category:Economic inequality researchers Category:University of Belgrade alumni Category:CUNY Graduate Center faculty