With the global economy slowly getting back on its feet, 2,500 delegates gathered in Davos face a vexing question this week: How to spread the wealth.
As much as any other issue income inequality will tax world leaders in the years ahead.
Aggressive policies from central banks have helped stem the liquidity drain that sent the U.S., Europe, and other countries reeling in the latter part of the last decade. Wall Street banks have come back to life, equity markets have soared and even debt-laden countries like Ireland and Greece are finding their way back into the capital markets.
But the main problem now will be those left behind.
"The kind of people over there (in Davos), other than the professors, are making a great deal of money more than their predecessors were a generation ago," University of Maryland economist Peter Morici said in an interview. "This is a growing embarrassment. The differences in income between Wall Street and the rest of America are astronomical."
(Read more: World's richest have same wealth as 3.5 billion poorest)
Dangers surrounding income inequality are not lost on those attending the World Economic Forum.
