In addition, there are notable cross-country differences in the current level of earnings inequality. Since all OECD economies face the same global environment and have essentially benefited from the same technological advances, globalisation and skill-biased technological change should have led to broadly similar shifts in labour demand. Even though countries have differed with respect to supply shifts, a relative supply-demand shift story is unlikely to fully account for the marked crosscountry differences in both the level and the evolution of labour earnings inequality. This hints at a possible role for differences in policy and institutional settings.