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Inequality Experts Call for Independent Panel to Tackle Global Wealth Crisis
14 Nov
Summary
- Hundreds of economists urge world leaders to set up inequality panel
- Report says richest 1% captured 41% of new wealth since 2000
- 2.3 billion people now face moderate or severe food insecurity
In the lead-up to the upcoming G20 summit in South Africa, hundreds of prominent economists and inequality experts, including former U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have issued a call for the establishment of an independent international panel to address the global inequality crisis.
This call comes as a new report, chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, is set to be presented to world leaders at the summit. The report paints a dire picture, stating that the world is facing not only a climate emergency but also an "inequality emergency" that is leading to more political instability and conflicts, as well as a "decreased confidence in democracy."
The report's findings are staggering: between 2000 and 2024, the richest 1% of the global population captured a staggering 41% of all new wealth created. Meanwhile, the number of people facing moderate or severe food insecurity has increased by 335 million since 2019, with one in four people globally, or around 2.3 billion, now regularly skipping meals.
The experts behind the open letter have expressed deep concern that these extreme concentrations of wealth are translating into undemocratic concentrations of power, eroding trust in societies and polarizing politics around the world. They are urging world leaders to heed the call and establish an independent panel akin to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to help guide governments on addressing the inequality crisis.
