There has been a persistent struggle between rich and poor within societies and nations over the course of human history. But, this September, the issue reached the international level. At a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, four nations -- South Africa, Brazil, Norway, and Spain -- announced the beginning of a campaign to tackle the problem of worldwide economic inequality. With background work done by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and other specialists, endorsement by more than 1,500 economists and academics, and expressions of interest from numerous nations, the campaign to establish an International Panel on Inequality was launched. The panel's proponents argued that it should research inequality within and between countries and, then, develop policies to close the widening gap between the rich and the poor.