Is science a public service, and are scientists public servants?
By Max Lawson Sometimes Davos has a way of creating moments of great theatre; where the elites who run the world can be in some ways held to account, or at least called out. On a panel this week at Davos, my boss, Gabriela Bucher…
Profiting from Pain
By Max Lawson We are living through extraordinary times. Extraordinarily bad for the vast majority of humanity. Extraordinarily good if you are one of the richest people in the world. Normally they meet in January at Davos, but that face-to-face meeting was postponed, due to…
Debt Crisis and Austerity could Worsen Extremely High Inequality in SADC Region
By Anthony Kamande Southern Africa is the most unequal region in Africa and the most unequal subregion in the world. Decades of colonial legacy, corruption, elite power and poor governance have hampered inclusive development in the region as wealth and income are increasingly concentrated in the hands…
In East Africa, the Pandemic has Pushed Millions out of Work: Here’s what Governments Need to do
Anthony Kamande Out of the blue over Christmas, while I was visiting my home village some 200km from Nairobi, a helicopter landed. This was extraordinary: my village only got electricity in 2017 and an event like this had never happened before. (Even now, as most…
Life in Socialist Countries and the Fight against Inequality
By Max Lawson My friend Olga Ghazaryan was born in 1962 in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, a small mountainous country in the Caucasus, and that time one of the republics that made up the USSR. I have known Olga since around 2003, when we…
Beating back the Billionaire Variant
By Anthony Kamande In the informal settlement area of Kawangware in Nairobi, my friend Joe, a nurse, is quarantining in his small room after getting COVID-19 for the second time. He’s less concerned about the virus than his finances, which have deteriorated severely in the…
The Inequality Epidemic in Brazil
By Jefferson Nascimento When the covid-19 pandemic hit Brazil, it resulted in a social, economic and sanitary crisis as the country was vulnerable in different dimensions, a scenario that has been worsening since 2015 and interrupted the trend of income inequality reduction (since early 2000s)….
COVID-19 Impact on Inequality: What does the Latest Analysis Show Us?
By Max Lawson Coronavirus and inequality; what is the latest? Last year at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF there was a lot of talk about the impact of Coronavirus on inequality levels; in short a widespread agreement that the likelihood was…
IS GREEN GROWTH A CONVENIENT LIE? – with Jason Hickel, Economic Anthropologist
By Elizabeth Njambi How fighting inequality and beating climate change means we must end our addiction to economic growth and fast. We’re asking: How are inequality, climate breakdown and growth linked? Why is green growth an impossibility? If rich nations must stop growing, what does…
WHEN NEOLIBERALISM TOOK ON AFRICA’S ECONOMIC IMAGINATION – With Zambian Economist Grieve Chelwa
By Elizabeth Njambi Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda (“KK”) – who led his country in the wake of independence from colonial rule – recently died. A pan-African giant, he pursued efforts to boldly pursue equality at home and fight for liberation across the African continent….