Dear Colleagues,
I commend this superb report on Global Inequality prepared by the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, chaired by Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz, at the request of the current Chair of G-20, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
A core recommendation of the report is that world leaders at the G-20 and at the United Nations establish a new International Panel on Inequality (IPI), which would operate in a similar way as the IPCC does for Climate Change.
The report cites market concentration, monopolies and anticompetitive business practices as key drivers of inequality. It calls on all governments to establish ‘National Inequality Reduction Plans’, which would set clear goals to reduce both income and wealth inequality. It also calls on
multilateral development banks to have an ‘inequality-reducing agenda’.
The report builds on the exemplary work of OXFAM which has produced and presented several seminal reports on the growing inequality at the global and national levels, and policy recommendations to tackle them at the World Economic Forum in Davor over the past decade.
I have signed the petition supporting the recommendation to establish an International Panel on Inequality, and I would encourage all to do the same.
Inequality Experts' Letter: Calling for a new permanent International Panel on Inequality – Fill out form
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Dear Friends
Apologies for the non-weekend email but we need your urgent help.
Dear World Leaders:
We write to you as x economists and inequality experts from x countries, to call on you to support the establishment of a permanent International Panel on Inequality to address the global inequality emergency, as recommended by the Extraordinary Committee on Inequality report to the G20, led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz.
We are experts from a broad range of disciplines, including economists, political scientists, climate scientists, sociologists, epidemiologists, anthropologists, historians, geographers, philosophers. Our diversity reflects a key fact: high levels of economic inequality have a negative impact on every aspect of human life and progress, including our economies, our democracies and the very survival of the planet.
We support the view of the Stiglitz G20 Committee that the world faces an inequality emergency. We are profoundly concerned, as they are, that extreme concentrations of wealth translate into undemocratic concentrations of power, unravelling trust in our societies and polarising our politics. We agree that economic inequality is an engine that drives rapid climate change and ensures its negative impacts are disproportionately felt by the poorest and most vulnerable people.
Just as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has played a vital role in providing neutral, science-based and objective assessments of climate change, a new International Panel on Inequality would do the same for the inequality emergency. This non-partisan and independent panel of experts on inequality would bring together the most up-to-date work of economists, scientists and other inequality experts from around the world, just as the IPCC does. It would provide policymakers the best, most objective assessments on the scale of inequality, its causes and consequences, and consider potential solutions. It would provide such assessments in international and national contexts, including to inform deliberations at the G20 and the United Nations.
We believe this is in the interests of policy makers from across the political spectrum, who see the importance of this issue and the need to base responses to it on data and evidence and sound analysis. The Panel’s analysis would also benefit the private sector, journalists, academia and civil society. We know that scholars and experts across the world would readily contribute their time voluntarily – as thousands do for the IPCC – in support of such a necessary and vital international initiative. We are ready to assist in this process.
Inequality is not inevitable; it is a policy choice. Clear and proven steps can be taken to reduce it and build more equal societies and economies, which are the fundamental foundation stone of a successful future for us all. We urge you to support the establishment of the International Panel on Inequality as a vital first step in building this more equal and inclusive world.
Yours
I commend this superb report on Global Inequality prepared by the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, chaired by Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz, at the request of the current Chair of G-20, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
A core recommendation of the report is that world leaders at the G-20 and at the United Nations establish a new International Panel on Inequality (IPI), which would operate in a similar way as the IPCC does for Climate Change.
The report cites market concentration, monopolies and anticompetitive business practices as key drivers of inequality. It calls on all governments to establish ‘National Inequality Reduction Plans’, which would set clear goals to reduce both income and wealth inequality. It also calls on
multilateral development banks to have an ‘inequality-reducing agenda’.
The report builds on the exemplary work of OXFAM which has produced and presented several seminal reports on the growing inequality at the global and national levels, and policy recommendations to tackle them at the World Economic Forum in Davor over the past decade.
I have signed the petition supporting the recommendation to establish an International Panel on Inequality, and I would encourage all to do the same.
Inequality Experts' Letter: Calling for a new permanent International Panel on Inequality – Fill out form
Kul
.png)
Dear Friends
Apologies for the non-weekend email but we need your urgent help.
Many of you may have heard about a new report on inequality that has been submitted to the President Ramaphosa last week by the Extraordinary Committee chaired by Professor Joseph Stiglitz. The report was commissioned by the South African government as part of their G20 presidency. Its main recommendation is for the establishment of an International Panel on Inequality (IPI) to mirror the IPCC on climate. It got worldwide media coverage last week.
The South African government has said they support the idea of an IPI, so we are not working hard to get other governments to support an IPI too. Part of this campaign is an open letter signed by as many inequality experts from all disciplines as we can. It is very easy for people to sign, by following this link:
Inequality Experts' Letter: Calling for a new permanent International Panel on Inequality – Fill out form
There are translations of the letter (which is also copied below) linked to in the form- in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Arabic.
If you have any relevant postgraduate qualification and an interest in inequality you can sign.
Please take a moment to sign and to share this link with your networks, so we can get as many people signed up as possible- we hope to publish this early next week so please move as quickly as you can.
Thanks so much for any help you can give
The South African government has said they support the idea of an IPI, so we are not working hard to get other governments to support an IPI too. Part of this campaign is an open letter signed by as many inequality experts from all disciplines as we can. It is very easy for people to sign, by following this link:
Inequality Experts' Letter: Calling for a new permanent International Panel on Inequality – Fill out form
There are translations of the letter (which is also copied below) linked to in the form- in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Arabic.
If you have any relevant postgraduate qualification and an interest in inequality you can sign.
Please take a moment to sign and to share this link with your networks, so we can get as many people signed up as possible- we hope to publish this early next week so please move as quickly as you can.
Thanks so much for any help you can give
Cheers
Max
Max
President Ramaphosa and Professor Stiglitz
receive the report of the G20 Task Team on global inequalities
We write to you as x economists and inequality experts from x countries, to call on you to support the establishment of a permanent International Panel on Inequality to address the global inequality emergency, as recommended by the Extraordinary Committee on Inequality report to the G20, led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz.
We are experts from a broad range of disciplines, including economists, political scientists, climate scientists, sociologists, epidemiologists, anthropologists, historians, geographers, philosophers. Our diversity reflects a key fact: high levels of economic inequality have a negative impact on every aspect of human life and progress, including our economies, our democracies and the very survival of the planet.
We support the view of the Stiglitz G20 Committee that the world faces an inequality emergency. We are profoundly concerned, as they are, that extreme concentrations of wealth translate into undemocratic concentrations of power, unravelling trust in our societies and polarising our politics. We agree that economic inequality is an engine that drives rapid climate change and ensures its negative impacts are disproportionately felt by the poorest and most vulnerable people.
Just as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has played a vital role in providing neutral, science-based and objective assessments of climate change, a new International Panel on Inequality would do the same for the inequality emergency. This non-partisan and independent panel of experts on inequality would bring together the most up-to-date work of economists, scientists and other inequality experts from around the world, just as the IPCC does. It would provide policymakers the best, most objective assessments on the scale of inequality, its causes and consequences, and consider potential solutions. It would provide such assessments in international and national contexts, including to inform deliberations at the G20 and the United Nations.
We believe this is in the interests of policy makers from across the political spectrum, who see the importance of this issue and the need to base responses to it on data and evidence and sound analysis. The Panel’s analysis would also benefit the private sector, journalists, academia and civil society. We know that scholars and experts across the world would readily contribute their time voluntarily – as thousands do for the IPCC – in support of such a necessary and vital international initiative. We are ready to assist in this process.
Inequality is not inevitable; it is a policy choice. Clear and proven steps can be taken to reduce it and build more equal societies and economies, which are the fundamental foundation stone of a successful future for us all. We urge you to support the establishment of the International Panel on Inequality as a vital first step in building this more equal and inclusive world.
Yours
Max Lawson
Head of Inequality Policy and Advocacy, Oxfam International
Visiting Professor, International Inequalities Institute LSE
Based in UK
Max.lawson@oxfam.org
Twitter/ BlueSky @maxlawsontin
Phone/ Whats App +447789913628
Head of Inequality Policy and Advocacy, Oxfam International
Visiting Professor, International Inequalities Institute LSE
Based in UK
Max.lawson@oxfam.org
Twitter/ BlueSky @maxlawsontin
Phone/ Whats App +447789913628
Meanwhile Elon Musk is well on his way to becoming the world’s first “Trillionaire” in a few short years.is it possible to see a time when the world will put a cap on excessive wealth by limiting the ultra rich to say One Billion dollars only? Bill Gates and Buffet, and Bezos’s ex-wife are good examples of billionaires divesting their wealth for the betterment of other humans. Others should be somehow encouraged to follow suit.
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