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December 13, 2003
How Rich Are You?
William H. Gates III is the world's richest man, according to the annual ranking by Forbes. Warren E. Buffet comes in a close second.
But have you ever wondered, with the annual income you're earning, where you would come in on one of those lists?
On the Global Rich List, you have a chance to find out.
Posted by Sam in Society / Politics
Comments
Interesting. The site has a couple of flaws, IMO.
First, for some income levels, it won't calculate your position, just your percentile.
Second, it doesn't use a standard 2,080 work hours per year -- it uses some 1,440 hour figure (which, according to this site is the norm for a casual U.K. laborer in the 14th century). Odd, no?
Posted by: Craig at December 13, 2003 2:35 PM
Oops..."this site" in my previous comment was supposed to be a link to here: http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/~rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html
Posted by: Craig at December 13, 2003 2:36 PM
My company uses 1900 hours as the norm, and I know other companies in Canada that use 1800. The number is probably some average because in third world countries we're talking predominantly shift-time and underemployment.
I think, though, that despite any flaws in the calculations, the point they are trying to make comes through crystal clear. The answer when I put in my particulars sure surprised me, and yet made good sense at the same time.
Posted by: Sam at December 13, 2003 5:35 PM
Another interesting observation from the Forbes list is that the Walton family (of Wal-Mart fame) has over twice the wealth as the Gates family. This is despite paying their workers the lowest wages in the industry. Hmm...maybe Wal-Mart *is* a true example of pure American capitalism. How sad.
Posted by: Craig at December 14, 2003 11:30 AM
This is a good way of making the point, but it says that the global median income is only $900. This is too low.
The authors of the site may be confusing median income with per capita GDP. Per capita GDP is divided over all people, whether working or not - children, the elderly, full-time mothers, etc.
But even so, this number is still too low. See this ranking:
http://www.mrdowling.com/800gdppercapita.html
It is adjusted for purchasing power parity (e.g. for how much money can buy in those countries).
It shows that only 19 countries have a per capita GDP lower than $900. China and India, which have more than a third of the world's population, have $3500 and $2000, respectively.
The median income in these countries is likely to be significantly higher, because workers support spouses, children, and elders who are not working.
You can use the above data to estimate the global income distribution if you have some idea how many people are supported per worker.
Posted by: Erik Rauch at December 15, 2003 12:01 PM