[ti:Pandemic Increases Super-Rich Share of World Wealth] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A study found on Tuesday [00:02.44]that the share of household wealth owned by billionaires [00:07.16]has risen by a record amount during the pandemic. [00:13.00]Millionaires are also coming out of COVID-19 ahead. [00:19.00]The World Inequality Report [00:21.84]is produced by a network of social scientists. [00:27.04]The report estimated that billionaires this year [00:31.44]collectively own 3.5 percent of the world household wealth. [00:38.96]This is up from a little more than 2 percent [00:42.72]at the start of the pandemic in early 2020. [00:48.36]Lucas Chancel was the lead writer. [00:52.28]He said the COVID crisis has worsened the inequalities [00:57.92]between the very rich and the rest of the population. [01:03.72]He noted that rich economies used massive financial support [01:09.76]to lessen the increased rise in poverty seen elsewhere. [01:16.32]The report used different specialist research and public information. [01:24.24]The opening part was written by U.S.-based economists [01:29.24]Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. [01:34.56]They were two of three economists [01:37.92]who won a 2019 Nobel for work on poverty. [01:44.52]They wrote, "wealth is a major source of future economic gains, [01:50.60]and increasingly, of power and influence...," [01:55.28]which predicts even more increases in inequality. [02:01.20]They were writing about what they called [02:04.04]an "extreme concentration of economic power [02:08.64]in the hands of a very small minority of the super-rich." [02:15.12]The findings confirm what many different existing studies, [02:20.44]"rich lists," and other evidence found, [02:24.32]pointing to a rise in health, social, sex, [02:29.32]and racial inequalities during the pandemic. [02:34.80]Forbes magazine publishes yearly a list of the world's billionaires. [02:42.12]This year it includes a record-breaking 2,755 billionaires [02:51.16]with a combined worth of $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion last year. [03:02.88]The new report showed that a wider group of 520,000 adults [03:09.88]who make up the top 0.01 percent richest together [03:16.80]saw their share of global wealth hit 11 percent this year. [03:23.92]This is up from 10 percent the year before. [03:28.64]It said belonging to the top 0.01 percent richest [03:35.68]means having a household wealth of at least $19 million. [03:43.24]This was set for different amounts [03:46.08]among different countries based on what a dollar could buy. [03:52.12]Researchers say some super-rich have gained from the move [03:56.88]to online of much of the world's economy during lockdowns. [04:03.20]Others simply gained from the value of what they owned, [04:07.76]which raised as financial markets [04:10.72]put money into the recovery of the economy. [04:15.64]The study also found that poverty greatly increased [04:20.88]in countries with weaker government support. [04:25.68]It found that large government support in the United States [04:30.80]and Europe was able to deal [04:34.28]with at least some of the effects on lower earners there. [04:39.80]Chancel said, "This shows the importance [04:43.76]of social status in the fight against poverty." [04:49.00]I'm Dorothy Gundy. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM