Abstract The worsening of various dimensions of the income distribution in most of the advanced economies in the last 30 years has been one of the main reasons behind the resurgence of the debate on inequality. The chapter reviews the main trends across 30 countries and present the main drivers that account for those changes. The chapter then discusses and assesses existing causal explanations beyond these stylised facts, including more mainstream hypotheses based on trade and technology and alternative ones based on structural imbalances and emergence of a new policy consensus, suggesting that further empirical scrutiny is needed. Finally, the chapter discusses possible economic effects of inequality, in particular the relationship between inequality and financial crises, including the hypothesis that the increase in inequality witnessed by advanced countries after the 1970s may have paved the way for the financial meltdown in 2008.