One key economic issue is why average incomes in OECD countries are 55 times higher than those in the world's poorest countries; and, how can we explain that some countries, the East-Asian dragons, in the last quarter century experienced rapid growth, whereas others did not? Recent developments in economic theory and empirical evidence show that the distribution of income and wealth play a significant role in answering these questions.

The papers in this volume are concerned with three major topics: 1. the philosophical background of actual analysis and the examination of some basic thoughts about the role of distributions, 2. recent empirical findings consider old and new distributional facts and trends as well as the "new poverty" debate, 3. some papers present theories linking income distribution and growth whereas some analyse related issues.

A comprehensive introduction surveys recent developments in the theory of income distribution and integrates the different papers into the actual debate. Additionally, emphasis is put on the empirical and political relevance as well as reliability of recent investigations.