EQUALS: Reimagining Our Economy

Following our conversation with Olivier De Schutter on A Roadmap to End Poverty Beyond Growth, this episode concludes our two-part series exploring bold roadmaps for a just and sustainable future.
Too often, climate breakdown and economic inequality are treated as separate crises. But what if they're two sides of the same problem, and one cannot be solved without confronting the other?
In this episode of EQUALS, Nafkote Dabi and Max Lawson speak with Anmol Somanchi, Moritz Odersky, and Cornelia Mohren from the World Inequality Lab about the Global Justice Report, an ambitious blueprint for building an economy that delivers shared prosperity while keeping global warming within planetary boundaries.
We explore the report's most radical proposals, including a Global Justice Fund financed through progressive global wealth and income taxes, with wealth tax rates of up to 20% for billionaires and top income tax rates of up to 90% for the world's highest earners. The authors argue that these measures could dramatically reduce extreme concentrations of wealth, progressively bringing an end to the billionaire class while financing investments in clean energy, healthcare, education, and sustainable development around the world.
The conversation also wrestles with the inevitable criticisms. Is such a transformation politically possible? Can societies move beyond an economic model built on endless growth? And how do we build public support for climate action that improves people's lives rather than asking them to bear the costs of a crisis they did little to create?
Guests
Anmol Somanchi is an Indian economist, researcher, and PhD candidate at the Paris School of Economics. He is the Global Justice Coordinator at the World Inequality Lab.
Moritz Odersky is an economist and research fellow at the World Inequality Lab.
Cornelia Mohren is an economist, Environmental Coordinator at the World Inequality Lab, and a PhD candidate in Economics at Sciences Po Paris.
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For decades, governments have measured success with GDP growth. But even with years of economic expansion, poverty persists, inequality is growing and climate crisis is worsening.
In this episode, we speak with Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, about his groundbreaking roadmap to end poverty without relying on endless GDP growth. Drawing on years of country visits and a global collaboration involving hundreds of economists, academics, unions and civil society organizations, Olivier argues that governments have become trapped by an obsession with growth at the expense of people's wellbeing.
Together, we unpack why rising GDP hasn't stopped inequality from deepening, how extreme wealth concentration is undermining democracy, why "business-friendly" policies often leave people behind, and what a post-growth economy focused on meeting human needs could actually look like.
Join us for a conversation that challenges one of the biggest assumptions in economics and offers a bold vision for a fairer future.
This is the first episode in a two-part EQUALS series exploring some of the most ambitious ideas for building a fairer and more sustainable future. Next, we'll examine the World Inequality Lab's groundbreaking Global Justice Report, speaking with members of the team behind the report about their bold proposals to transform the global economy and confront inequality, climate change and global injustice.
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For many Indigenous communities, inequality is not simply about income or opportunity. It is about power, representation and land.
In this episode, Nafkote Dabi and Max Lawson speak with Larissa Baldwin-Roberts, a Widjabul Wia-bal woman, climate justice advocate, and one of Australia's leading campaigners for First Nations rights.
Drawing on her experience working across Indigenous justice, refugee rights, and climate advocacy, Larissa explores how structural racism continues to drive economic inequality for Indigenous peoples, not only in Australia but around the world.
From the fight to reclaim January 26 as a day of truth-telling, to the growing influence of far-right politics, climate negotiations, and the challenge of building genuinely community-led movements, Larissa explains why inequality cannot be separated from questions of race, history, and power.
The conversation also examines what meaningful inclusion really looks like, why Indigenous peoples are rights holders rather than stakeholders, and how building broad coalitions for justice may be essential to confronting today's intersecting crises.
If we want a fairer economy, Larissa argues, we must first reckon with the systems that continue to exclude those on the frontlines of inequality.
If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.
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What happens when basic public goods become a private, paid for service, education becomes a profit-turning treadmill and meanwhile millions live in chronic insecurity?
In this episode Max and Grazielle interview renowned economist Guy Standing, exploring his argument that the privatization of public goods or what he calls the “plunder of the commons” has produced a new global class, the Precariat, and fuelled rising inequality.
Guy explains why a basic income is a matter of common justice, freedom, and security, which are human rights. He further dives into his most recent book that describes how private equity and financialization have transformed schools and universities into profit machines, and why restoring the education system with slower, ethical, democratic learning matters for society.
From privatized education to the future of basic income, this episode is a timely conversation about inequality, insecurity, and what it will take to build systems that serve people instead of profit.

If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.
Don't just listen, join thousands of others reading our weekly digest on inequality. Sign up at https://www.equals.ink/
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This week on EQUALS, we explore “Muskism” — the growing power of tech billionaires and what it means for democracy, inequality, and the future of society.
Authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff argue that Elon Musk is not just a billionaire entrepreneur, but a sign of a deeper transformation in capitalism, technology, and political power.
From AI and social media to electric vehicles, digital infrastructure, and government dependence on private tech companies, the episode asks what happens when essential systems are controlled by a handful of corporations and billionaires.
We discuss the rise of “sovereignty as a service,” the growing influence of Big Tech over public life, and whether societies can reduce their dependence on tech monopolies while building more democratic alternatives.
Later in the episode, Hana Ivanhoe joins the conversation to unpack who loses most in this new tech order — and what it would take to reclaim power in an increasingly unequal digital world.
If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review. Follow us on X @EQUALShope, Bluesky and on LinkedIn.
Don't just listen, join thousands of others reading our weekly digest on inequality. Sign up at https://www.equals.ink/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.