Bt The end of the 19th century, the first age of globalisation and a spate of new inventions had transformed the world economy. But the "Gilded Age" was also a famously unequal one, with America's robber barons and Europe's "Downton Abbey" classes amassing huge wealth: the concept of "conspicuous consumption" dates back to 1899- The rising gap between rich and poor (and the fear of socialist revolution) spawned a wave of reforms, from Theodore Roosevelt's trust-busting to Lloyd George's People's Budget.
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