About Poverty

1. An Economy for the 1% & Defending
the One Percent
Abir Goldar
Student Id. – MDS 162103
Development Studies Discipline
Khulna University

2. The richest 1% now have more wealth than the rest of the world combined. An Economy
for the 1% looks at how this has happened, and why, as well as setting out shocking new
evidence of an inequality crisis that is out of control.
 In 2015, just 62 individuals had the same wealth as 3.6 billion people –
the bottom half of humanity. This figure is down from 388 individuals as
recently as 2010

The wealth of the richest 62 people has risen by 45% in the five years since 2010 –
that's an increase of more than half a trillion dollars ($542bn), to $1.76 trillion.
 The poorest half of the world’s population has received just 1% of the total
increase in global wealth, while half of that increase has gone to the top 1%.
Economy for the 1%

3. The wealth of the richest 62 individuals continues to grow, while that
of the poorest half of the world stagnates

5.  Pay workers a living wage and close the gap with
executive rewards.
 Promote women’s economic equality and women’s
rights
 Keep the influence of powerful elites in check
 Share the tax burden fairly to level the playing field
 Use progressive public spending to tackle inequality
Recommendation for reducing inequality:

6. Inequality Inefficiency:
Defending the One Percent
The claim that inequality is ineffcient in the sense of shrinking the size of the
economic pie. If the top 1 percent is earning an extra $1 in some way that
reduces the incomes of the middle class and the poor by $2, then many people
will see that as a social problem worth addressing.
Equality of Opportunity as a Desideratum
The claim of inefficiency is concern about inequality of opportunity. Equality
of opportunity is often viewed as a social goal in itself, but economists
recognize that the failure to achieve such equality would normally lead to
inefficiency as well.
If some individuals are precluded from pursuing certain paths in life, then
they might be unable to contribute fully to growing the economic pie.

7. The Big Tradeoff
“big tradeoff” that society faces is between equality and
efficiency. We can use the government’s system of taxes and
transfers to move income from the rich to the poor, but that
system is a “leaky bucket.”
The Uneasy Case for Utilitarianism
For economists, the utilitarian approach to income distribution
comes naturally. After all, utilitarians and economists share an
intellectual tradition.

8. Thank You 