This book would not exist without support from Sarah Oliver. She helped create and analyze the many datasets used in this book and kept all of the data and files documented and well organized. Without implicating any of them, there are many people I would like to thank for help in finishing this book. In the early stages of writing I benefited tremendously from a presentation to PIIE senior fellows, as well as written comments from Bill Cline, Tomáš Hellebrandt, Gary Hufbauer, Simon Johnson, Nick Lardy, Paolo Mauro, Marcus Noland, Robert Lawrence, Arvind Subramanian, Ted Truman, Steve Weisman, and Nicolas Véron. I also benefited from a study group held at PIIE to discuss the manuscript and especially comments from Rabah Azrezki, Shanta Devarajan, Simeon Djankov, and Martha Denisse Pierola. I am especially grateful to Branko Milanović for detailed comments, suggestions, and discussions, which helped shape this book.
I am also extremely grateful to three formal peer reviewers, Surjit Bhalla, Chang-Tai Hsieh, and Aaditya Mattoo, all of whom made very constructive comments that reshaped the manuscript further; they also pushed me to take the data further in some places and to be more precise in others. Participants at a number of presentations provided useful comments, including at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, PIIE’s Board of Directors’ meeting, CF40-PIIE conference in Beijing, an invited lecture for the business community in Shanghai, and the Moody’s annual conference in Dubai.
I would also like to thank PIIE president Adam Posen for his strong support and for providing me with valuable guidance throughout. I am also grateful to Steve Weisman for helping with production and overseeing the publications team including Barbara Karni, Madona Devasahayam, and Susann Luetjen, all of whom provided excellent editorial and publishing assistance on the manuscript.
Finally, I am very grateful to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and Lynn Forester de Rothschild for generously supporting this project through a grant to the Institute for work on inequality and inclusive capitalism.