ABSTRACT
The income gap between rich and poor countries has grown dramatically over the past 30 years. In 1950, the average per capita income of low-income countries was $164, while the per capita income of the industrialized countries averaged $3,841, yielding an absolute income gap of $3,677. The consequences of the widening gaps can be witnessed every day. In the international arena tensions between the “haves” and “have-nots” dominate debate in United Nations and other international forums. Thinking and research on the international and domestic gaps between rich and poor has been going through a protracted period of debate that can be traced back to the end of World War II. The war elevated the United States to the position of world leader, and in that position the United States found itself confronted with a Western Europe in ruins.
