![Rob Walton, part of the family that owns Walmart and more wealth than the bottom 42% of the US population](https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/FN-AA323_WALTON_M_20170413113709.jpg)
Global inequality today is at a level last seen in the late 19th century – and it is continuing to rise.
With it has come a surging sense of disenfranchisement that has fuelled alienation and anger, and even bred nationalism and xenophobia. As people struggle to hold on to their shrinking share of the pie, their anxiety has created a political opening for opportunistic populists, shaking the world order in the process.