[Timon3]

Is there a reason to trust your anecdote instead of looking at data? I'm sure this topic has been researched.

[baq]

Yeah it’s called the gini index. US isn’t great but isn’t anywhere near the worst.

In absolute terms though just look at pictures of e.g. rural Russia va Moscow.

[Timon3]

Thank you for bringing up this data point! I'm sure we both agree that's a much better argument than "trust me" :)

[sifar]

I understand, however it was a disclaimer not a "trust me". One of the main reason such metrics are not as reflective of the reality is that for developing countries, the taxes are not reported accurately. A lot of wealth is officially unreported - and it is a massive amount. Such things are not captured by official statistics, by virtue of being unreported income, which leads to an incomplete or distorted picture of reality.