Bill Gates in Davos
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- Written by Nick Dearden/ZSpace
- Category: Analysis
Bill Gates is worried – too many people are talking about raising the minimum wage. Appropriately, the world’s richest man spoke on the eve of the World Economic Summit in Davos. Gates is a great symbol of the Davos summit, an annual away day for global capitalism, at which the world’s 1% mouth concerns about poverty and climate change, while working on policies which fuel inequality.
The Sharing economy: a short introduction to its political evolution
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- Written by Adam Parsons/STWR
- Category: Analysis
Can the sharing economy movement address the root causes of the world’s converging crises? Unless the sharing of resources is promoted in relation to human rights and concerns for equity, democracy, social justice and sustainability, then such claims are without substantiation – although there are many hopeful signs that the conversation is slowly moving in the right direction.
Read more: The Sharing economy: a short introduction to its political evolution
Africa's Billions that the poor won't touch
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- Written by J. Moyo & M. Gathigah
- Category: Analysis
With its two-trillion-dollar economy, recent discoveries of billions of dollars worth of minerals and oil, and the number of investment opportunities it has to offer global players, Africa is slowly shedding its image as a development burden.
“While global direct investment has shown some decline, dropping by 18 percent in 2012, in Africa foreign direct investment rose by five percent,” Ken Ogwang, an economic expert affiliated with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), which has a membership of over 60 businesses, told IPS.
Since 2012, Kenya has made a series of mineral discoveries, including unearthing 62.4 billion dollars worth of Niobium – a rare earth deposit. The discovery in Kenya’s Kwale County has made the area among the world’s top five rare earth deposits sites, and allows Kenya to enter a market that has long been dominated by China.
State of Power Report
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- Written by TNI
- Category: Analysis
The Transnational Institute is proud to launch its third annual ‘State of Power’ report as the World Economic Forum meets in Davos. This anthology exposes and analyses the principal power-brokers, members of the “Davos class”, who have caused financial, economic, social and ecological crises worldwide.
Unless we know which elites control our wealth and resources, understand how they influence political and social processes, and can identify the systems, structures and policies by which they maintain their power, TNI believes our hopes for advancing social and environmental justice are slim. Justice demands a recalibration of power and that requires us to better understand it.
Chinese Capital Flows
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- Written by GFI/The Economist
- Category: Analysis
IS CAPITAL fleeing China? The recent crackdown on official corruption might suggest that fat cats are busy whisking their money out of the country to avoid scrutiny. That impression is strengthened by the apparently endless flow of Chinese money into luxury goods, penthouses and other trophies in London, New York and Paris.
Lots of money is undoubtedly leaving China, despite the country’s strict currency controls. However, a close look at the official figures suggests that, on balance, more hot money (meaning capital flows other than foreign direct investment, both above board and under the table) has been flowing in (see chart).
Offshore holdings of China's elite
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- Written by ICIJ
- Category: Analysis
China's top leaders have held secretive offshore companies in tax havens that helped shroud the communist elite's wealth.
Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality
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- Written by Oxfam International
- Category: Documents
Almost half of the world's wealth is going to the richest 1 % ... You cannot fight poverty if you do not fight inequality ... Oxfam puts the focus on truths that have been analysed twenty years ago already. At that time, most NGOs were happy with the focus on poverty reduction and did not want to see this was totally compatible with neoliberal policies. Let us hope we can now work on inequality and decent social protection.
Global Employment Trends 2014
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- Written by ILO
- Category: Documents
The not so bright future for jobs ...
The Inequality Nightmare
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- Written by Donald Kaberuka
- Category: Analysis
“The poor cannot sleep, because they are hungry,” the Nigerian economist Sam Aluko famously said in 1999, “and the rich cannot sleep, because the poor are awake and hungry.” We are all affected by deep disparities of income and wealth, because the political and economic system on which our prosperity depends cannot continue enriching some while it impoverishes others.
Global Risks
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- Written by World Economic Forum
- Category: Documents
The New 'Global Risks' Report of the World Economic Forum: economists have discovered the inequality problem and consider it 'a global risk'. Very improbable though they will conclude that high incomes have to be lowered ...
The War on Poverty at 50 (US)
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- Written by Sue Sturgis/ZSpace
- Category: Analysis
Date on which President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty in the United States: 1/8/1964
Percent of Americans who were living in poverty at that time: 19
Percent living in poverty in 1969: 12.1
Percent living in poverty today: 15
