THE GEOGRAPHIC-DISTRIBUTION OF WORLD INCOME, 1950-1990

PPP-based data(PPP = purchasing power parity) for gross domestic products are used to assess the affluence of more than 100 non-Communist countries in 1950-1990. A seven-region classification, based on the distinction between temperate and tropical zones, is used to summarize the data on individual countries. The seven regions account for nearly 90 percent of the inequality among these countries in each year. Another classification, based on the position of countries with respect to the European Union, is applied to 18 countries in Western Europe. Five journeys around the world are described; the main result is that affluence tends to decline when the traveler moves from temperature zones (in either the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere) toward the Equator. Another topic considered is that of the G-7 countries, the populations of which are all concentrated in the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere. Also, attention is paid to Kuznets' hypothesis of divergence-convergence in a cross-country context.