In a world that's objectively richer than ever before - seriously, we've got more stuff than we know what to do with - roughly one-tenth of the global population still lives in extreme destitution. Meanwhile, a tiny minority is swimming in Scrooge McDuck-level wealth and power. And just to keep things interesting, droughts, megafires, floods, and heatwaves are popping up like uninvited party guests, reminding us that our economies are pushing the planet past its breaking point.
According to a gang of heavyweight economists - including Olivier De Schutter, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Jayati Ghosh, Thomas Piketty, Kate Raworth, and Jason Hickel - these aren't separate crises. They're symptoms of an economic model that's hit a dead end. Poverty and inequality aren't cosmic accidents; they're the predictable results of policy choices: how we design tax systems, regulate labor markets, value care work, structure public services, and decide whose needs and whose voices actually count. The kicker? If governments can manufacture scarcity, they can also dismantle it. The roadmap, shaped by experts from UN agencies to grassroots movements, is ready. Now they're just waiting for political leaders to actually use it.