Contents |
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Executive Summary |
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1 | (13) |
Introduction |
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14 | (4) |
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Chapter 1 Global economic inequality: insights |
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18 | (32) |
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What is the level of global economic inequality today? |
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20 | (1) |
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Global income and wealth inequality between individuals: initial insights |
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20 | (2) |
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Global income and wealth inequality between countries |
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22 | (2) |
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Income inequality varies significantly across regions |
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24 | (3) |
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Differences in inequality are not well explained by geographic or average income differences |
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27 | (1) |
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The geographical repartition of global incomes |
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27 | (1) |
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The limited impact of redistribution on global inequality |
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28 | (3) |
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The complementarity between predistribution and redistribution |
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31 | (1) |
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The extreme concentration of capital |
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32 | (18) |
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Box 1.1 Income and wealth inequality concepts used in this report |
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38 | (1) |
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Box 1.2 The WID.world and Distributional National Accounts Project |
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38 | (2) |
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Box 1.3 The rich ecosystem of global inequality data sets |
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40 | (2) |
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Box 1.4 Impact of the Covid crisis on inequality between countries |
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42 | (1) |
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Box 1.5 Impact of the Covid shock on inequality within countries |
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42 | (4) |
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Box 1.6 What is the relationship between Gross Domestic Product, National Income and National Wealth? |
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46 | (1) |
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Box 1.7 Comparing incomes, assets and purchasing power across the globe |
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47 | (3) |
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Chapter 2 Global inequality from 1820 to now: the persistence and mutation of extreme inequality |
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50 | (24) |
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Global inequality rose between 1820 and 1910, and stabilized at a high level since then |
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53 | (2) |
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Within-country and Between-country inequalities are as great in 2020 as in 1910 |
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55 | (2) |
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The global economic elite never fully recovered its Belle Epoque opulence |
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57 | (3) |
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The regional decomposition of global inequality: back to 1820? |
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60 | (5) |
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Taxes and transfers do not reduce global inequality that much |
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65 | (1) |
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Understanding the roots of global economic inequality: center and periphery imbalances |
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65 | (4) |
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Global inequality within countries is higher than inequality between countries -- which remains significant |
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69 | (5) |
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Box 2.1 Global inequality: beyond income measures |
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71 | (3) |
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Chapter 3 Rich countries, poor governments |
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74 | (16) |
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What is wealth and what does owning capital mean? |
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76 | (2) |
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Global private and public wealth: insights |
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78 | (1) |
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The return of private wealth in rich countries |
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79 | (1) |
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The secular fall of public wealth was exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis |
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79 | (2) |
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The rise of private wealth in emerging countries |
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81 | (1) |
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The decline of public wealth across the world |
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82 | (2) |
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Net foreign wealth has largely increased in East Asia and fallen in North America |
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84 | (1) |
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Financialization increased everywhere since 1980, but at different speeds |
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85 | (1) |
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Economies are increasingly owned by foreigners but some have resisted this trend more than others |
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86 | (4) |
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Box 3.1 How do we measure wealth inequality within countries? |
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88 | (2) |
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Chapter 4 Global wealth inequality: the rise of multimillionaires |
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90 | (16) |
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Global wealth data remain opaque |
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92 | (1) |
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How large is global wealth and where is it held? |
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93 | (2) |
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The uneven increase in wealth since the 1990s |
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95 | (1) |
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Extreme growth at the very top |
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96 | (1) |
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The evolution of wealth inequality in rich countries |
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97 | (3) |
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Wealth inequality in emerging countries |
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100 | (1) |
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What is driving global wealth inequality? |
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101 | (5) |
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Box 4.1 Who owns what? Breaking down asset ownership by wealth group |
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103 | (1) |
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Box 4.2 How do we measure wealth inequality? |
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103 | (3) |
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Chapter 5 Half the sky? The female labor income share from a global perspective |
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106 | (16) |
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Female labor income share across the world today: regional divides |
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109 | (1) |
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Evolution of women's income share across the world |
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110 | (1) |
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Women earn just a third of labor income across the globe |
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111 | (1) |
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The role of pay ratios vs. employment ratios |
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112 | (2) |
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Breaking the glass ceiling: women at the top of the wage distribution |
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114 | (8) |
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116 | (1) |
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Box 5.2 Gender inequality metrics |
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117 | (5) |
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Chapter 6 Global carbon inequality |
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122 | (26) |
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The need for better monitoring of global ecological inequalities |
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124 | (1) |
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Global carbon inequality: initial insights |
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125 | (4) |
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Emissions embedded in goods and services increase carbon inequalities between regions |
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129 | (4) |
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Global carbon emissions inequality |
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133 | (1) |
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Per capita emissions have risen substantially among the global top 1% |
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133 | (3) |
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Inequalities within countries now represent the bulk of global emissions inequality |
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136 | (1) |
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Addressing the climate challenge in unequal societies |
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137 | (11) |
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Box 6.1 Measuring carbon inequality between individuals |
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145 | (1) |
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Box 6.2 Carbon footprints of the very wealthy |
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146 | (2) |
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Chapter 7 The road to redistributing wealth |
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148 | (12) |
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150 | (1) |
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Modernizing personal wealth taxation |
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151 | (1) |
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Estimates for a global progressive wealth tax |
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152 | (1) |
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Regional wealth tax estimates |
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153 | (1) |
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Factoring-in behavioral responses to wealth taxation |
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154 | (6) |
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Box 7.1 Learning from past and current examples of progressive wealth taxation |
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159 | (1) |
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Chapter 8 Taxing multinationals or taxing wealthy individuals? |
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160 | (10) |
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The role of corporate tax in the progressivity of the tax system |
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162 | (2) |
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The decline in corporate taxation since the 1980s |
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164 | (1) |
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The promises and pitfalls of minimum taxation |
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165 | (5) |
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Chapter 9 Global vs unilateral perspectives on tax justice |
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170 | (12) |
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Usefulness of unilateral approaches: the case of FATCA |
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172 | (1) |
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Estimates of unilateral vs. multilateral tax deficit collection |
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173 | (2) |
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Anti-tax evasion schemes contain many loopholes and cannot be assessed |
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175 | (1) |
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Properly assessing the road towards tax transparency: publishing basic information |
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176 | (1) |
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Towards a global asset register |
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177 | (5) |
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Box 9.1 Central Security Depositories as building blocks for a global financial register |
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179 | (3) |
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Chapter 10 Emancipation, redistribution and sustainability |
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182 | (18) |
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The rise of the Welfare State in rich countries (1910-1980) |
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184 | (2) |
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The limited rise of tax revenue and public spending in emerging countries since 1980 |
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186 | (1) |
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The stagnation of global tax revenue and social expenditure (1980-2020) |
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187 | (1) |
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Lessons from failed trickle-down economics |
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187 | (3) |
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The 1980-2020s have been marked by a rise of tax evasion, further undermining tax progressivity |
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190 | (1) |
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Using 21st-century progressive tax revenue to invest in education, healthcare and the environment |
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191 | (1) |
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Global redistribution: moving beyond development aid |
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192 | (1) |
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Ending center-periphery imbalances |
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193 | (7) |
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Box 10.1 One-off wealth taxes: a window of opportunity? |
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192 | (3) |
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Box 10.2 Unequal access to healthcare: how the Covid crisis revealed and exacerbated healthcare inequalities between countries |
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195 | (3) |
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198 | (2) |
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200 | (1) |
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201 | (2) |
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203 | (2) |
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205 | (2) |
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207 | (2) |
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209 | (2) |
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211 | (2) |
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213 | (2) |
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215 | (2) |
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217 | (2) |
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219 | (2) |
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221 | (2) |
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223 | (2) |
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225 | (2) |
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227 | (2) |
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229 | (2) |
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231 | (2) |
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233 | (2) |
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235 | (2) |
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237 | (2) |
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239 | (2) |
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241 | (2) |
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243 | (2) |
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245 | (2) |
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247 | (2) |
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249 | (2) |
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251 | |