Who is the richest person in the world, ever? Does where you were born affect how much money yours"ll earn over a lifetime? How would we know? Why-beyond the idle curiosity-do these questions even matter? InThe Haves and the Have-Nots, Branko Milanovic, one of the worldrs"s leading experts on wealth, poverty, and the gap that separates them, explains these and other mysteries of how wealth is unevenly spread throughout our world, now and through time. Milanovic uses history, literature and stories straight out of todayrs"s newspapers, to discuss one of the major divisions in our social lives: between the haves and the have-nots. He reveals just how rich Elizabeth Bennetrs"s suitor Mr. Darcy really was; how much Anna Karenina gained by falling in love; how wealthy ancient Romans compare to todayrs"s super-rich; where in Kenyan income distribution was Obamars"s grandfather; how we should think about Marxism in a modern world; and how location where one is born determines his wealth. He goes beyond mere entertainment to explain why inequality matters, how it damages our economics prospects, and how it can threaten the foundations of the social order that we take for granted. Bold, engaging, and illuminating,The Haves and the Have-Notsteaches us not only how to think about inequality, but why we should.