Mother Pelican
A Journal of Solidarity and Sustainability

Vol. 10, No. 2, February 2014 Luis T. Gutiérrez, Editor

Home Page

Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva and Nicholas Galasso This article was originally published by Oxfam International, 20 January 2014 REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION The 85 richest people own the same wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people. LINKS TO THE REPORT: Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality (Summary) En finir avec les inégalités extrêmes: confiscation politique et inégalités économiques Gobernar para las élites: Secuestro democrático y desigualdad económica Housing for the wealthier middle classes rises above the insecure housing of a slum community in Lucknow, India. Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population, and seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years. The World Economic Forum has identified economic inequality as a major risk to human progress, impacting social stability within countries and threatening security on a global scale. This massive concentration of economic resources in the hands of fewer people presents a real threat to inclusive political and economic systems, and compounds other inequalities – such as those between women and men. Left unchecked, political institutions are undermined and governments overwhelmingly serve the interests of economic elites – to the detriment of ordinary people. In this paper, Oxfam shows how extreme inequality is not inevitable, with examples of policies from around the world which have reduced inequality and developed more representative politics, benefiting all, both rich and poor. Oxfam calls on leaders at the 2014 World Economic Forum at Davos to make the commitments needed to counter the growing tide of inequality. Open publication - Free publishing ABOUT THE AUTHORS Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva is Head of Research, Oxfam Great Britain. For more information on this author, click here. Nicholas Galasso is Research and Policy Advisor, Oxfam America. For more information on this author, click here. |Back to TITLE| Page 1      Page 2      Page 3      Page 4      Page 5      Page 6      Page 7      Page 8      Page 9 Supplement 1      Supplement 2      Supplement 3      Supplement 4      Supplement 5      Supplement 6 PelicanWeb Home Page

GROUP COMMANDS AND WEBSITES Write to the Editor Send email to Subscribe Send email to Unsubscribe Link to the Google Groups Website Link to the PelicanWeb Home Page

CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE ISSN 2165-9672