Editorial in Nature:
Although income inequality has been falling, rising wealth inequality is a problem because it slows social mobility, feeds political polarization and erodes trust in institutions, say the article’s authors, who include Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-prizewinning economist at Columbia University in New York, and Winnie Byanyima, the head of the United Nations’ agency to combat AIDS, in Geneva, Switzerland.
It’s concerning that so much is known about the causes and damaging consequences of severe inequality but that this knowledge has failed to prompt meaningful action from politicians. The authors’ solution is for researchers to step up and be heard: they propose a body called the International Panel on Inequality (IPI). This would involve a group of around 40 specialists reviewing the research on inequality and putting the knowledge before policymakers.
The proposal for the panel has the backing of the UN and the African Union — along with more than 700 economists and other scholars of inequality.
More here.
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