<p><strong><em>Globally</em></strong>, there is Lakner and Milanovik (2015)'s elephant graph:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/BNnBW.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/BNnBW.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><hr>
Hellebrandt and Mauro (2015)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/a9E4g.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/a9E4g.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><strong>Thus, the two previous distributions look like bimodal log-normal distributions.</strong></p>

<p><hr>
or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulative_distribution_function" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CDF</a>s, as in <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1592409660" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MacAskill's book <em>Doing Good Better</em></a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/bQMdk.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/bQMdk.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<hr>

<p>Did not find something strictly related to wages. For most of people, income may be a good proxy of wages.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-05T17:28:46.067Z
I think it's fair to equate (gross) income to wages for the vast majority of the world population
E. Sommer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-17T11:33:23.323Z
Any question @ragingacademic ?
keepAlive
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-05T12:05:30.117Z
2019-01-06T18:56:04.977Z
2019-01-06T18:56:04.977Z
keepAlive
<p>Both distributions are often modelled log-normal, with a substantial number of zeros. A pareto distribution is also sometimes used (<a href="https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/piketty-saezNBER12handbook.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Piketty &amp; Saez (2012), p.32</a>) for modelling the distribution of top incomes. Wealth distributions are also in general far more skewed than wage (or income) distributions.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-05T17:13:29.307Z
2019-01-05T17:13:29.307Z
E. Sommer
<p>How are wages distributed globally? Wages do not follow a normal distribution, do they? Is wealth distributed in the same way or differently?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-05T11:38:07.103Z
Since wages cannot be negative, I would rather say that they follow a log-normal, truncated at the minimum (nominal) wages, or exponential maybe. I have no sources though. Also, if any answer does what you want, please consider ticking it as correct. A reputation of 1 is enough to do it. I remind you this because newcomers often forget to do so. See [What should I do when someone answers my question?](https://economics.stackexchange.com/help/someone-answers) That being said, welcome on [EC](https://economics.stackexchange.com/).
keepAlive
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-05T23:13:40.533Z
Related: https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/13097/are-there-data-for-the-evolution-of-global-economic-inequality
Henry
<macroeconomics><microeconomics><wages><wealth>
Statistical distribution of wages and wealth
ragingacademic
# Statistical distribution of wages and wealth

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-01-05)

How are wages distributed globally? Wages do not follow a normal distribution, do they? Is wealth distributed in the same way or differently?

**Tags:** macroeconomics, microeconomics, wages, wealth
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Since wages cannot be negative, I would rather say that they follow a log-normal, truncated at the minimum (nominal) wages, or exponential maybe. I have no sources though. Also, if any answer does what you want, please consider ticking it as correct. A reputation of 1 is enough to do it. I remind you this because newcomers often forget to do so. See [What should I do when someone answers my question?](https://economics.stackexchange.com/help/someone-answers) That being said, welcome on [EC](https://economics.stackexchange.com/).  
> **username_2**: Related: https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/13097/are-there-data-for-the-evolution-of-global-economic-inequality  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-01-05. Score: 4

***Globally***, there is Lakner and Milanovik (2015)'s elephant graph:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/BNnBW.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/BNnBW.png)

---

Hellebrandt and Mauro (2015)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/a9E4g.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/a9E4g.png)

**Thus, the two previous distributions look like bimodal log-normal distributions.**

---

or [CDF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulative_distribution_function)s, as in [MacAskill's book *Doing Good Better*](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1592409660)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/bQMdk.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/bQMdk.jpg)

---

Did not find something strictly related to wages. For most of people, income may be a good proxy of wages.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I think it's fair to equate (gross) income to wages for the vast majority of the world population  
> **username_1**: Any question @ragingacademic ?  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2019-01-05. Score: 3

Both distributions are often modelled log-normal, with a substantial number of zeros. A pareto distribution is also sometimes used ([Piketty & Saez (2012), p.32](https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/piketty-saezNBER12handbook.pdf)) for modelling the distribution of top incomes. Wealth distributions are also in general far more skewed than wage (or income) distributions.


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