Unequal Wealth Distribution - Abhimanyu Maheshwari
Description:
Over the last many years the wealth and income divide across the globe has increased. In 2018, 26 of the richest people in the world held as much wealth as half of the global population (3.8 billion poorest people). This number was 43 people a year before. As things stand currently, the richest 1% people in the world have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people. Nearly half of humanity is living on less than 5.50 USD a day. This is of extreme importance as the steady wealth increase at the top are also driving within country wealth inequalities. Between 1990 to 2015, the share of the income going to the top 1% of global population was seen increasing in 46 out of the 57 countries where this data is available, whereas on the other hand more than half of the 92 countries where this data is available saw the bottom 40% of the population receive less than 25% of the overall income. Not only are these top 1% billionaires mostly men, they are also heavily undertaxed where only 4 cents of every 1 USD of tax revenue comes from taxes on wealth. The super rich population avoids as much as 30% of their tax liability.
Enablers:
- Under taxing of the wealthy
- Differences in access to education and opportunities
- Gender pay gaps
- Government policies
- Change in economic markets (Move from manufacturing to service based economies)
- High Unemployment
Inhibitors:
- Enabling human capital
- Increasing wages and returns for low-income families
- Changing corporate governance policies
- Infrastructure Development
Paradigms:
Reducing the wealth distribution gap between the top and the bottom of the pyramid is the first step to ensure equal opportunity and equal access to other factors such as health, education etc. The mere fact that even in 21st century a child's future, their chance of surviving, getting education etc. is all dependent on where they are born cannot be accepted. The unequal distribution of wealth needs to end to ensure that a child born in Africa is just as likely to get good living conditions as a child born in US or EU.
Experts:
- United Nations (UN) - https://www.un.org/en/un75/inequality-bridging-divide
- Inequality Organization - https://inequality.org/facts/global-inequality/
- Dr Marta Guerriero (Head, Global Sustainable Development) - https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/expertcomment/expert_comment_on_global_inequality_-_dr_marta_guerriero1/
Timing:
Web Resources:
- https://www.oxfam.org/en/5-shocking-facts-about-extreme-global-inequality-and-how-even-it
- https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jan/22/wealth-gap-widening-for-more-than-70-per-cent-of-global-population-researchers-find
- https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/inequality-a-persisting-challenge-and-its-implications
- https://ourworldindata.org/global-economic-inequality
Contributor:
Abhimanyu