<P> If we look at the Gini coefficient for world income, over time, after World War II the global Gini coefficient sat at just under . 45 . Between around 1959 to 1966, the global Gini increased sharply, to a peak of around . 48 in 1966 . After falling and leveling off a couple of times during a period from around 1967 to 1984, the Gini began to climb again in the mid-eighties until reaching a high or around . 54 in 2000 then jumped again to around . 70 in 2002 . Since the late 1980s, the gap between some regions has markedly narrowed--between Asia and the advanced economies of the West, for example--but huge gaps remain globally . Overall equality across humanity, considered as individuals, has improved very little . Within the decade between 2003 and 2013, income inequality grew even in traditionally egalitarian countries like Germany, Sweden and Denmark . With a few exceptions--France, Japan, Spain--the top 10 percent of earners in most advanced economies raced ahead, while the bottom 10 percent fell further behind . By 2013, a tiny elite of multibillionaires, 85 to be exact, had amassed wealth equivalent to all the wealth owned by the poorest half (3.5 billion) of the world's total population of 7 billion . Country of citizenship (an ascribed status characteristic) explains 60% of variability in global income; citizenship and parental income class (both ascribed status characteristics) combined explain more than 80% of income variability . </P> <P> The concept of economic growth is fundamental in capitalist economies . Productivity must grow as population grows and capital must grow to feed into increased productivity . Investment of capital leads to returns on investment (ROI) and increased capital accumulation . The hypothesis that economic inequality is a necessary precondition for economic growth has been a mainstay of liberal economic theory . Recent research, particularly over the first two decades of the 21st century, has called this basic assumption into question . While growing inequality does have a positive correlation with economic growth under specific sets of conditions, inequality in general is not positively correlated with economic growth and, under some conditions, shows a negative correlation with economic growth . </P> <P> Milanovic (2011) points out that overall, global inequality between countries is more important to growth of the world economy than inequality within countries . While global economic growth may be a policy priority, recent evidence about regional and national inequalities cannot be dismissed when more local economic growth is a policy objective . The recent financial crisis and global recession hit countries and shook financial systems all over the world . This led to the implementation of large - scale fiscal expansionary interventions and, as a result, to massive public debt issuance in some countries . Governmental bailouts of the banking system further burdened fiscal balances and raises considerable concern about the fiscal solvency of some countries . Most governments want to keep deficits under control but rolling back the expansionary measures or cutting spending and raising taxes implies an enormous wealth transfer from tax payers to the private financial sector . Expansionary fiscal policies shift resources and causes worries about growing inequality within countries . Moreover, recent data confirm an ongoing trend of increasing income inequality since the early nineties . Increasing inequality within countries has been accompanied by a redistribution of economic resources between developed economies and emerging markets . Davtyn, et al. (2014) studied the interaction of these fiscal conditions and changes in fiscal and economic policies with income inequality in the UK, Canada, and the US . They find income inequality has negative effect on economic growth in the case of the UK but a positive effect in the cases of the US and Canada . Income inequality generally reduces government net lending / borrowing for all the countries . Economic growth, they find, leads to an increase of income inequality in the case of the UK and to the decline of inequality in the cases of the US and Canada . At the same time, economic growth improves government net lending / borrowing in all the countries . Government spending leads to the decline in inequality in the UK but to its increase in the US and Canada . </P> <P> Following the results of Alesina and Rodrick (1994), Bourguignon (2004), and Birdsall (2005) show that developing countries with high inequality tend to grow more slowly, Ortiz and Cummings (2011) show that developing countries with high inequality tend to grow more slowly . For 131 countries for which they could estimate the change in Gini index values between 1990 and 2008, they find that those countries that increased levels of inequality experienced slower annual per capita GDP growth over the same time period . Noting a lack of data for national wealth, they build an index using Forbes list of billionaires by country normalized by GDP and validated through correlation with a Gini coefficient for wealth and the share of wealth going to the top decile . They find that many countries generating low rates of economic growth are also characterized by a high level of wealth inequality with wealth concentration among a class of entrenched elites . They conclude that extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth globally, regionally and nationally, coupled with the negative effects of higher levels of income disparities, should make us question current economic development approaches and examine the need to place equity at the center of the development agenda . </P>

List few examples of inequalities common in india