Living in a Time of Wonders

Note that 1970 is just about exactly when your average North American decided that world poverty was a hopeless problem. 1990 was when international socialism collapsed.
Sept'16-Dierdre McCloskey hazards a guess as to why.
(Some more good population data) This graph also has interesting behaviour in 1970 and 1990:


(Mar'19) Here is a more detailed look at income distribution from 2003 to 2013. Notice how median income almost doubles? Mean income moves toward the median: that means that the highest are more in line with average incomes.

- March 13, 2019