ABSTRACT
Since the living standard, which refers to the economic well-being of people, is determined by the availability of total economic wealth in the world and how it is distributed among the people, the goal of world development should be an increase in world per capita income accompanied with a more equitable distribution of income among countries. In addition to the attempt to increase world output by technological advancement and economic innovation, it is believed that the decrease in the degree of inequality in income distribution will contribute to a sustainable development in the world economy. Thus, how the world's total economic pie is distributed among countries and how the nation's total economic pie is distributed among households (in other words, who is rich and who is poor, and what is the gap between them) are important questions for economists and policy-makers to answer.
