The evidence on distribution of incomes is mixed, with differing trends or little change within countries. Across countries, the gap between the average income of the richest 20 countries and the average for the poorest 20 has doubled in the past 40 years, to more than 30 times. Developing countries made considerable progress in adopting market friendly policies in the 1990s. Fiscal deficits and the premia on the exchange rate declined across the regions, from Sub-Saharan Africa to South Asia. Subsidies worldwide remain large.
Financial crises are extremely costly.
Latin America lost a decade of economic and social progress following the debt crisis of the early 1980s. No country has achieved sustained development without substantial and efficient investments in education. The USA is estimated to have the highest average years of schooling, and along with Poland, the most equitable distribution of education among 85 economies. If people s abilities are normally distributed across income levels, such skewed distribution of education would seem to represent some of the largest welfare losses to society. A focus on quantity alone does not ensure quality.