Recommended Reading: Why the world cannot afford the rich

The article, "Why the world cannot afford the rich," published on Nature, dives into the critical intersection of economic inequality, environmental sustainability, and social well-being. It outlines how the accumulation of wealth by the richest 1% not only exacerbates social disparities but also significantly contributes to environmental degradation. The authors argue for the pressing need to address inequality as a means to improve health, reduce stress, and enhance societal cohesion. Policies such as progressive taxation, closing tax havens, and promoting fair business practices are suggested as vital steps toward achieving greater economic equality and sustainability.

“Bigger gaps between rich and poor are accompanied by higher rates of homicide and imprisonment. They also correspond to more infant mortality, obesity, drug abuse and COVID-19 deaths, as well as higher rates of teenage pregnancy and lower levels of child well-being, social mobility and public trust. The homicide rate in the United States – the most unequal Western democracy – is more than 11 times that in Norway. Imprisonment rates are ten times as high, and infant mortality and obesity rates twice as high.”

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“The well-publicized lifestyles of the rich promote standards and ways of living that others seek to emulate, triggering cascades of expenditure for holiday homes, swimming pools, travel, clothes and expensive cars. Studies show that people who live in more-unequal societies spend more on status goods. … Inequality also makes it harder to implement environmental policies. Changes are resisted if people feel that the burden is not being shared fairly.”