Branko Milanovic

Branko Milanovic is a Visiting Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center City University of New York and Senior Scholar at the Stone Center for Socio-economic Inequality. He obtained his Ph. D. in economics (1987) from the University of Belgrade with a dissertation on income inequality in Yugoslavia. He served as lead economist in the World Bank’s Research Department for almost 20 years, leaving to write his seminal book on global income inequality, Worlds Apart (2005). He was senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington (2003-2005) and has held teaching appointments at the University of Maryland (2007-2013) and at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (1997- 2007).

Branko’s main area of work is income inequality, in individual countries and globally, including in pre-industrial societies. In addition to numerous papers for the World Bank, he has published articles on these topics in Economic Journal, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Literature, and Journal of Political Philosophy, among others. His book, The Haves and the Have-nots (2011) was selected by The Globalist as the 2011 Book of the Year. His new book, Global Inequality (2016), was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize for the best political book of 2016 and was translated into twelve languages. It addresses economic and political effects of globalization, including the concept of successive “Kuznets waves” of inequality, largely driven, since the first industrial revolution, by technology and globalization. In October 2017, Branko was awarded (jointly with Mariana Mazzucato) the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Knowledge.

Post Archive

11 July 2022
Branko Milanovic compares and contrast the two juggernauts of economics theory. This short piece is stimulated by my recent reading of the French translation of Joan Robinson’s…
27 June 2022
Branko Milanovic argues that climate activists and policymakers need to craft futures that are acceptable to populations in rich countries, even if they should bear the cost more…
07 June 2022
Branko Milanovic argues that the West may well be responding to Russia's aggression in Ukraine in the way Putin wants. By any standard indicator that measures the achievements by…
26 May 2022
Sen, Amartya. Home in the World: A Memoir, Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN: 9781846144868. No contemporary famous economist has as broad interests and knowledge, nor as diverse life…
18 May 2022
Branko Milanovic explores the tricky economic decisions facing Russia as it is increasingly globally isolated.   In the next decade or so, the history of economic policy…
26 April 2022
Branko Milanovic argues that post-Putin, Russia's billionaires may favor a weak central government or true oligarchy and to insist on the domestic rule of law. The…
16 March 2022
Branko Milanovic express Russia's long-terme conomic might pursue import substitution, and shift its economic activity away from Europe towards Asia. When we…
07 March 2022
Branko Milanovic argues that, once again, the idea that one type of system will eventually be embraced by all is being violently shown to be a delusion. Wars are the…
24 February 2022
Branko Milanovic dissects Putin's worldview. Vladimir Putin’s speech on 21 February 2022 at the occasion of the recognition of Donbas and Lugansk republics is one of the most…
14 February 2022
Among those who have read Marx, it is well known that Marx was rather indifferent to the issue of inequality under capitalism. Among those who have not read him, but know the left…
18 January 2022
Branko Milanovic explores rich and poor countries’ frequently differing attitudes to lockdowns and deaths. Every decision to impose a lockdown in a pandemic is a decision to…
11 January 2022
I will try to imitate my colleague @milescorak who nicely summarized his work and readings in 2021. Most of my work was on my forthcoming book “Through the lens of inequality…
06 January 2022
Branko Milanovic on the former Yugoslavia's private sector Christmases. A week ago, a friend asked me how was Christmas when I was growing up in Yugoslavia, in the 1960s. I…
15 December 2021
Branko Milanovic explores the incentives behind rich countries' reluctance to share vaccines and what can be done about them. Until a friend asked me yesterday, I have not given…
10 December 2021
Branko Milanovic argues that the summit is a thinly veiled and dangerous attempt to mask geopolitical aims and divide the world into two opposed camps.  More than 100 nations…