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According to the graphic linked in the article, Mumbai has a Gini of 35. That's not very high - it's comparable to Italy, Spain or Sierra Leone - and only margi

• gumby 10y ago
  > It contradicts the author's thesis to note that a country with so little inequality as India was (and still is) way ahead of the US (Gini 41) in terms of providing domestic services. Think of the Gini coefficient as a cumulated histogram of income. The actual values of high and low income are not represented in the Gini chart. So India has less differential in population than the US but the absolute value of max and min are much lower than the US's (actually the max in India is pretty big but the curve is quite steep). Also the Gini coefficient is a single number, the geometric mean of the curve. The shape of the curve is quite different: India has a massive unemployment problem and a reasonably large middle class that can pay for service (income is low so the time value of money is low => hiring a servant is worth it). I don't know what percentage of the median household income an Uber driver typically earns so it's hard to see if it is a good analogy or not. All the studies I've seen on this matter have been biased (high or low, depending on the point to be made) and have been methodologically suspect. It's not clear if it's even possible to calculate it since many / most Uber drivers enter and exit the "work force" casually based on available time and desired compensation.