Gulf between rich and poor increases risk of climate breakdown as well as entrenches poverty, says letter to UN and World Bank

The letter says: “We know that high inequality undermines all our social and environmental goals. It corrodes our politics, destroys trust, hamstrings our collective economic prosperity and weakens multilateralism. We also know that without a sharp reduction in inequality, the twin goals of ending poverty and preventing climate breakdown will be in clear conflict.”

  • HousePantherEnglish
    34•1 year ago

    Caveat Emptor: I have not read the article. I am immediately suspicious of most economists because, at least in the US, they have a decidedly conservative bias. Generally US-based economists side with the concerns of the wealthy and promote policies friendly to them which are often at the expense of the poor and working classes.

    • @sovietcreditcard@lemmy.worldEnglish
      24•1 year ago

      Bingo. Pretty much any non-Marxist economists will favor “the market” over workers. Neoliberalism, the predominant ideology in most western countries, is seen as an alternative to conservatism (very much so in the US), but they’re centrists at best, and conservative-lite at worst.

      • livus
        18•1 year ago

        This is a case of “perfect is the enemy of good”.

        This thing was signed by a bunch of non-US economists like Thomas Picketty and people like Helen Clark, a left politician who used to run the UN Development Programme.

        Economic neoliberal bias, sure, but what they are proposing is still an order of magnitude better than what we have now.

        Edit: I can’t see anything below this in this comment chain, not even my own comments!

        Not sure if it’s a kbin bug or if @hglman blocked me. (Is this the effect blocking has in the fediverse? Can you guys still see the rest of the chain?)

          • livus
            2•1 year ago

            Yeah I know, not by some standards, really depends on your Overton window.

            She led a majority government on centre-left policies in New Zealand so that still meant she was in charge of a Monetarist economy with all the neoliberal economics that implies, but she also presided over a massive tax revenue transfer to working class families that is still going on today.

        • @hglman@lemmy.ml
          -5•1 year ago

          Pointing out how it can be better is not the enemy of the good; your concern trolling is.

          • livus
            10•1 year ago

            Huh? This isn’t reddit. I’m not a “concern troll”. I’m just an ordinary person who happens to disagree with you about something.

            I’m not a fan of economic neoliberalism either, but I would rather an international group of economists demanded anti- inequality measures than nothing.

      • Veraxus
        7•1 year ago

        Exactly. Neo/liberalism is just right-wing feudalism with extra steps. If you allow (let alone encourage) the unmitigated consolidation of wealth (and therefore authority) you will ALWAYS move society rightward. Hence the term “Late-stage Capitalism”.

        Economies require trade and incentive to thrive, but there must be limits to how much a person or entity can accrue.

      • @CorruptBuddha@lemmy.caEnglish
        -8•1 year ago

        Pretty much any non-Marxist economists will favor “the market” over workers.

        Just going to point out that “the market” is people’s freedom of choice compounded across society.

        Neoliberalism, the predominant ideology in most western countries, is seen as an alternative to conservatism (very much so in the US), but they’re centrists at best, and conservative-lite at worst.

        It’s almost like political parties are tied to the values of their voters.

    • livus
      6•1 year ago

      I don’t quite see how a reduction in global poverty would hurt poor people though.

      In economic terms inequality actually hurts everyone. Recessions last longer, there is more stagnation, more unrest, and interestingly there are effects like worse health outcomes even for the rich in a highly unequal society.

      • enkers
        7•1 year ago

        Because in the long term, their interest is to give up as little as possible to maintain the status quo. They’re not actually interested in the harm that economic inequality causes to poor people, only in walking back from the harm a mass unrest event would potentially cause them.

        • livus
          6•1 year ago

          Well, Thomas Piketty is one of the signatories, so…

          The thing is though that there has been a massive shift in the last decade from the old “Establishment” having power, to the phenomenon of Disaster Capitalism.

          Disaster capitalists thrive on things like mass unrest. They will do everything in their power to continue down this track. And right now they have the upper hand.

          • enkers
            4•1 year ago

            Yeah, I’m not an accelerationist, but it seems to me like there’s no way out. We’ve squeezed our way into a very tight spot where we can’t back up but going forward would have a huge cost in human life.

            • livus
              4•1 year ago

              I guess instead of going backwards we need to swerve to the side somehow.

        • @OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
          3•1 year ago

          If we’re needlessly overthinking, I must point out that by rejecting a call to reduce global inequality because you suspect it doesn’t go far enough…you’re siding with / helping the people who DON’T want to reduce global inequality.

          • enkers
            3•1 year ago

            That’s a fair criticism. I don’t really have a better answer to the situation at hand. I think it’s just important to keep in mind that this is why were in this situation to begin with.