Analysis
Inequality and Democracy
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- Written by Roberto Savio
Not a day goes by without news on the growing inequality that is the telling indicator of the kind of economic model in which we have put ourselves, following the neoliberal binge unleashed by the Washington Consensus. The idea that economic growth is “a rising tide lifting all boats”, as the late Margaret Thatcher declared when she announced war on the welfare state, and its twin “capital will trickle down to everybody”, are now totally discredited. Facts, as it has been said, are stubborn.
How to Halve Poverty in Just One Day
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- Written by S. Dykstra, C. Kenny, J. Sandefur
Researchers from the Center for Global Development discovered how to halve poverty in just one day: they used the new PPPs (purchase power parity), following the recent results from the Comparison programme: so now, poor countries are much richer than they were...
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Africa Rising? Inequalities and the role of Fair Taxation
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- Written by Tax Justice Africa/Christian Aid
Economic growth in Africa has been important these last years.But who is benefiting? Where does the money go?
Read this latest report from Tax Justice Africa
The geographer David Harvey says fixing inequality will take more than tinkering
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- Written by Scott Carlson
David Harvey would implore you to imagine life without capitalism—that is, if you can. Chances are, even if you’re puzzled by the manipulation of phantom money on Wall Street, troubled by society’s growing inequality, or disgusted with the platinum parachutes of corporate executives, you probably still conceive the world in terms of profits, private property, and free markets, the invisible hand always on the tiller.
Read more: The geographer David Harvey says fixing inequality will take more than tinkering
Huge Hole in Social Safety Nets
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- Written by Farangis Abdurazokzoda/IPS
Social safety net programmes have expanded, yet 870 million of the world’s poorest people remain uncovered, says a new World Bank report released Tuesday.
Although over one billion people in 146 countries now participate in at least one of roughly 475 social safety net programmes, most of the extreme poor – those who live under 1.25 dollars a day – are not, says the report, The State of the Social Safety Nets 2014.
The Accidental Controversialist: Deeper Reflections on Thomas Piketty's "Capital"
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- Written by Thomas I. Palley
Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a six hundred and eighty-five page tome that definitively characterizes the empirical pattern of income and wealth inequality in capitalist economies over the past two hundred and fifty years, and especially over the last one hundred. It also documents the grotesque rise of inequality over the past forty years and ends with a call for restoration of high marginal income tax rates and a global wealth tax.
His book has tapped a nerve and become a phenomenon. In laying a solid blow against inequality, Piketty has also become an accidental controversialist. That is because his book has potential to unintentionally trigger debate over so-called "free market" capitalism. The big question is will that happen?
Read more: The Accidental Controversialist: Deeper Reflections on Thomas Piketty's "Capital"
A need for a re-think of the World Bank's policy on tax havens
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- Written by Mathieu Vervynckt/Eurodad
On 7 April, the World Bank Group published a report on the first year of implementation of its policy on the use of Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs) – commonly known as tax havens – in its private sector operations. The report, which comes after repeated calls from civil society organisations for a stronger policy, fails to include the necessary information to make a proper assessment of the Bank’s implementation efforts. Once again, it exposes the inadequacies of the current policy in terms of tackling tax evasion and avoidance.
Read more: A need for a re-think of the World Bank's policy on tax havens
A slippery ladder: 2.8 billion people on the brink
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- Written by Shawn Donnan, Ben Bland and John Burn-Murdoch/FT
The precarious rise from poverty of millions in the emerging world.
Muljoko, a 27-year-old cleaner who works in one of Jakarta’s gleaming office towers, has all the trappings of a newly minted member of the middle class. He owns a motorcycle, slings a Sony smartphone and has a futuristic-looking phone-watch strapped to his wrist that he uses to text friends during working hours.
He is infinitely better off than when he was growing up in an impoverished farming village in southern Sumatra. Like millions around the world over the past three decades, Muljoko has risen out of poverty and is now a proud member of Asia’s emerging urban middle class.
And yet, a closer look at his finances – and his aspirations – reveals that his place in the middle class is much more fragile than it seems.
Read more: A slippery ladder: 2.8 billion people on the brink
New data from the International Comparison Program: Is China already the biggest economy?
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- Written by ICP and WB
The International Comparison Program (ICP) released new data today showing that the world economy produced goods and services worth over $90 trillion in 2011, and that almost half of the world’s total output came from low and middle income countries.
Under the authority of the United Nations Statistical Commission, the 2011 round of ICP covered 199 economies - the most extensive effort to measure Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) across countries ever. ICP 2011 estimates benefited from a number of methodological improvements over past efforts to calculate PPPs.
Read more: New data from the International Comparison Program: Is China already the biggest economy?
Rewriting global tax rules could increase developing countries’ corporate tax revenues by over 100%
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- Written by Winnie Byanyima/Oxfam
“Corporations are rigging the rules and taking advantage of poor countries, fuelling a vicious cycle of inequality. ”
OECD’s current tax action plan is flawed because it excludes poorest countries
The G20’s plan to tackle corporate tax dodging, devised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), needs a radical shake up so that developing countries can capture their fair share of foreign business activity, according to a new report published today by Oxfam.
