1FW2e8F

Recommendations

Info

SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY Elite capture is also capture by men The capture of political processes by elites can also be seen as the capture of these processes by men. It contributes to policies and practices that are harmful to women or that fail to help level the playing field between men and women. As a result, women are also largely excluded from economic policy making. Despite significant progress since 2000, as of January 2014, only nine women were serving as a head of state and only 15 as the head of a government; only 17 percent of government ministers worldwide were women, with the majority of those overseeing social sectors, such as education and the family (rather than finance or economics). 293 Women held only 22 percent of parliamentary seats globally. 294 Women’s leadership is critical to ensuring that economic and social policies promote gender equality. The concentration of income and wealth in the hands of wealthy elites, the majority of whom are men, gives men more decisionmaking power at national level, and contributes to national laws failing to help level the playing field for women. Around the world there is a legacy of discriminatory laws and practices that compound gender discrimination; for instance on inheritance rights, lending practices, access to credit and asset ownership for women. CORRUPTION HITS THE POOREST HARDEST When elites capture state resources to enrich themselves it is at the expense of the poorest. Large-scale corruption defrauds governments of billions in revenue and billions more through the inefficiencies of ‘crony contracting’. At the same time, poor people are hit hardest by petty corruption, which acts as a de facto privatization of public services that should be free. One study found that in rural Pakistan the extremely poor had to pay bribes to officials 20 percent of the time, whereas for the non-poor this figure was just 4.3 percent. 295 Elites shape dominant ideas and public debate Around the world elites have long used their money, power and influence to shape the beliefs and perceptions that hold sway in societies, and have wielded this power to oppose measures that would reduce inequality. Elites use this influence to promote ideas and norms that support the economic and political interests of the privileged; such as through the promotion of ideas like ‘the majority of rich people have secured their wealth through hard work’, or ‘strong labour rights and taxation of bankers’ bonuses will irreparably harm the economy’. Language is cleverly deployed in Orwellian ways, with inheritance tax rebranded as the ‘death tax’, and the rich becoming ‘wealth creators’. 296 As a result, across much of the world there is a considerable misperception of the scope and scale of inequality and its causes. In the majority of countries, the media is also controlled by a very small, male, economic elite. 62
SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY One study of academic economists in the USA found extensive and largely undisclosed links to the financial sector among them, and a very strong correlation between these ties and intellectual positions that actively absolved the financial sector of responsibility for the financial crisis. 297 These economists have often appeared in the mainstream media as independent ‘experts’. Meanwhile, the share of the world’s population enjoying a free press remains stuck at around 14 percent. Only one in seven people lives in a country where political news coverage is robust, independent and where intrusion by the state into media is limited. 298 Elites also use their considerable power to actively stop the spread of ideas which go against their interests. Recent examples of this include governments, driven by elites, clamping down on the use of social media. The Turkish government attempted to prevent access to Twitter following mass protests, and Russia has implemented a law that equates popular bloggers with media outlets, thus requiring them to abide by media laws which restrict their output. 299 THE PEOPLE ARE LEFT BEHIND The capture of politics by elites undermines democracy by denying an equal voice to those outside of these groups. This undermines the ability of the majority to exercise their rights, and prevents poor and marginalized groups from escaping from poverty and vulnerability. 300 Economic inequality produces increased political inequality, and the people are being left behind. Since 2011, the divide between elites and the rest of society has sparked mass protests throughout the world – from the USA to the Middle East, and from emerging economies (including Russia, Brazil, Turkey and Thailand) to Europe (even Sweden). The majority of the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets were middle-class citizens who saw that their governments were not responding to their demands or acting in their interests. 301 Unfortunately, in many places, rather than putting citizens’ rights back at the heart of policy-making and curbing the influence of the few, many governments responded with legal and extra-legal restrictions on the rights of ordinary citizens to hold governments and institutions to account. Governments in countries as diverse as Russia, Nicaragua, Iran and Zimbabwe, have launched concerted campaigns of harassment against civil society organizations, in an effort to clamp down on citizens who seek to voice their outrage at the capture of political and economic power by the few. 302 63
Page 1 and 2:
Even it up TIME TO END EXTREME INEQ
Page 3 and 4:
JEFFREY SACHS Director of the Earth
Page 5 and 6:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The paper was writ
Page 7 and 8:
SECTION 1 2 3 FOREWORD FOREWORD The
Page 9 and 10:
SECTION 1 2 3 FOREWORD Persistent i
Page 11 and 12:
SECTION 1 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Nth
Page 13 and 14:
SECTION 1 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Bil
Page 15 and 16: SECTION 1 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The
Page 17 and 18: SECTION 1 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY pow
Page 23 and 24: SECTION 1 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Des
Page 25 and 26: SECTION 1 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY and
Page 27 and 28: SECTION 1 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY gov
Page 29 and 30: SECTION 1 2 3 INTRODUCTION Nthabise
Page 31 and 32: A view across Santa Marta favela an
Page 33 and 34: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY ME
Page 35 and 36: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY FI
Page 37 and 38: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY TA
Page 39 and 40: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY 1.
Page 41 and 42: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY FI
Page 43 and 44: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY Th
Page 45 and 46: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY EX
Page 47 and 48: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY 20
Page 49 and 50: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY in
Page 51 and 52: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY Ca
Page 53 and 54: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY ed
Page 55 and 56: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY (C
Page 57 and 58: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY Si
Page 59 and 60: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY Th
Page 61 and 62: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY CA
Page 63 and 64: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY Id
Page 65: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY CA
Page 69 and 70: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY MY
Page 71 and 72: SECTION 1 2 3 EXTREME INEQUALITY ma
Page 73 and 74: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE THE
Page 75 and 76: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE BURK
Page 77 and 78: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE In S
Page 79 and 80: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE wage
Page 81 and 82: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE (CAS
Page 83 and 84: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE Some
Page 85 and 86: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE 2.3
Page 87 and 88: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE Inte
Page 89 and 90: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE appr
Page 91 and 92: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE fisc
Page 97 and 98: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE CASE
Page 99 and 100: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE Stro
Page 103 and 104: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE to 5
Page 107 and 108: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE hous
Page 111 and 112: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE CASE
Page 113 and 114: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE The
Page 115 and 116: SECTION 1 2 3 WHAT CAN BE DONE (CAS
Page 117 and 118:
SECTION 1 2 3 TIME TO ACT Today’s
Page 119 and 120:
SECTION 1 2 3 TIME TO ACT • Imple
Page 121 and 122:
SECTION 1 2 3 TIME TO ACT • Commi
Page 123 and 124:
SECTION 1 2 3 TIME TO ACT • Ensur
Page 125 and 126:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES NOTES 1. Based
Page 127 and 128:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES 51. M. Carney (
Page 129 and 130:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES 106. S. Limwatt
Page 131 and 132:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES 168. The Transn
Page 133 and 134:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES 245. P. Engel,
Page 135 and 136:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES 324. Oxfam and
Page 137 and 138:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES 390. In C. Godf
Page 139 and 140:
SECTION 1 2 3 NOTES 449. P. Stevens
Page 142:
The widening gap between rich and p
show all

1FW2e8F

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?