Explaining Oxfam’s Projections for Extreme Poverty in 2022
By Max Lawson This blog responds to Noah Smiths’ substack criticism of Oxfam’s extreme poverty numbers. Dear Noah, First of all, I would like to thank you for the scrutiny of our numbers, which I really believe increases accountability. As we did a couple of…
Inequality Kills: The unparalleled action needed to combat unprecedented inequality in the wake of COVID-19
The wealth of the world’s 10 richest men has doubled since the pandemic began. The incomes of 99% of humanity are worse off because of COVID-19. Widening economic, gender, and racial inequalities—as well as the inequality that exists between countries—are tearing our world apart. Read…
The Inequality Virus
Bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus through a fair, just and sustainable economy The coronavirus pandemic has the potential to lead to an increase in inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began. The virus…
Time to care
Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people. Read More
Public good or private wealth?
Universal health, education and other public services reduce the gap between rich and poor, and between women and men. Fairer taxation of the wealthiest can help pay for them. Our economy is broken, with hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty while huge…
Reward work, not wealth
To end the inequality crisis, we must build an economy for ordinary working people, not the rich and powerful. Last year saw the biggest increase in billionaires in history, one more every two days. This huge increase could have ended global extreme poverty seven times…
An economy for the 99%
It’s time to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few New estimates show that just eight men own the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. As growth benefits the richest, the rest of society – especially the…
An Economy For the 1%
How privilege and power in the economy drive extreme inequality and how this can be stopped
Wealth: Having It All and Wanting More
Global wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small wealthy elite. These wealthy individuals have generated and sustained their vast riches through their interests and activities in a few important economic sectors, including finance and insurance and pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Read More
Working for the Few
Political capture and economic inequality Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population, and seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years. The World Economic Forum has…