One of the world's leading experts on global income distribution walks us through the quirks of wealth through the ages. Who is the richest person in the world, ever? Does where you were born affect how much money you'll earn over a lifetime? How would we know? Why - beyond idle curiosity - do these questions even matter? In "The Haves and the Have-Nots", Branko Milanovic, one of the world'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 from today's headlines to discuss one of the major divisions in our social lives: the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. He reveals why inequality matters, how it damages our economic 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-Nots" teaches us not only how to think about inequality, but also tells us why we should.