In a world that spends a disproportionate amount of time responding to the attention-seeking whims of the narcissistic president of the United States, important issues in which he has no interest tend to be overlooked.
One of these issues is the growing inequality between nations and within nations. Wealth inequality has been rising, and in turn feeding political polarization and eroding trust in institutions. Indeed, trust in democracy itself has been declining as inequality grows.
The World Economic Forum has named inequality a “systemic global risk,” threatening “social progress, productivity and poverty reduction, and even climate action.”
The gap between rich and poor is stark, with the richest 10 percent owning three-quarters of global wealth and the poorest half owning just two percent. Two-thirds of the world’s people live in countries where inequality is rising.
While the issue doesn’t get the attention it deserves, the G20 at least has taken note and established a committee of inequality experts led by Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz to report on the issue.
The committee’s report warns of an “inequality emergency” that undermines both democracy and economic progress. It points out that while one in four people worldwide now regularly skip meals, billionaire wealth is at the highest level in history. The committee made a number of recommendations, including the creation of an International Panel on Inequality.
The Panel would “support governments and multilateral agencies with authoritative assessments and analyses of inequality. These analyses would inform and empower policymaking.”
It would be styled after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “through which many thousands of scientists have voluntarily contributed their time and efforts … providing accurate and timely assessments of the state of knowledge in this crucial arena.” The goal would be to elevate inequality to an issue of global importance, akin to climate change.
The proposal for the Panel has the support of the UN, the World Economic Forum and the African Union, and more than 1,500 academics and economists from 100-plus countries have signed an open letter backing the idea. Signatories include former US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Nobel Prize-winning economists.
Stiglitz, the leading economic light behind the proposal, has publicly invited Prime Minister Carney to take up the cause. So far he has not responded. Perhaps he believes income and wealth inequality are simply not top concerns among Canadian voters.
Carney was closely associated with the IPCC, about which he said, “If you’re not part of the solution, you are the problem.” His words apply equally to the proposed Panel on Inequality.
While much is known about the causes and consequences of severe inequality, the knowledge has failed to prompt necessary action from politicians. This may be partly due to the scattered nature of the research which is spread across multiple institutions such as the World Bank, UN agencies and academia. The proposed Panel could consolidate the knowledge in order to direct policy.
The situation is growing worse as rapidly developing technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) threaten to add to the disparities. Furthermore, the wealth and power they produce increasingly concentrates in the hands of billionaires. An International Panel on Inequality would be an important instrument in bringing about a very necessary readjustment.