CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

The Global Divide 213
TABLE 5.1 RANGE OF ANNUAL PER CAPITA INCOMES IN EACH GLOBAL QUINTILE,
AT EXCHANGE RATES
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile
Income at bottom
of quintile
$ 8 $285 $ 516 $1,042 $ 3,964
Income at top of
quintile
$282 $516 $1,036 $3,963 $92,104
Source: Calculations based on World Bank data from World Development Indicators 2004.
This has led to development of purchasing power parity (PPP) figures.
If, in fact, the food, clothing, and housing that you can buy in South Africa
with R4,000 is the same or the equivalent of the food, clothing, and housing
you can get in the United States for $1,000, then it’s fair to say that R4,000
equals $1,000 in purchasing power, rather than the R6,000 figure at exchange
rates.
Purchasing power parity calculations have been made for most countries.
Again, the beginning and ending points of the global quintiles, drawn
from World Bank statistics and based on PPP data, 5 are shown in Table 5.2.
Figure 5.2 presents bar charts showing global income disparities as of
2002. Both sets of numbers are depicted: currency exchange rates and purchasing
power parity. The bar based on currency exchange rates shows a level
of inequality between the richest 20 percent and the poorest 20 percent of
121 to 1. The bar based on PPP shows the level of disparity at 31 to 1. These
TABLE 5.2 RANGE OF ANNUAL PER CAPITA INCOMES IN EACH GLOBAL QUINTILE,
AT PPP
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile
Income at bottom
of quintile
$ 29 $1,217 $2,138 $ 4,759 $ 11,443
Income at top of
quintile
$1,213 $2,136 $4,731 $11,443 $119,024
Source: Calculations based on World Bank data from World Development Indicators 2004.