It noted that the distribution of wealth and power affects the allocation of investment opportunities often in socially undesirable ways, because “high levels of economic and political inequality tend to lead to economic institutions and social arrangements that systematically favour the interests of those with more influence. This is consistent with some basic stylized facts that are discussed in the subsequent chapters of this Report. There was strong global growth during the decades immediately following the Second World War, w ith low or declining inequality in industrialized countries and also in many developing countries.