Widening disparities in income and wealth both within and across countries have become among the most pressing global challenges of our time. As inequalities deepen, the call for coordinated international action has only grown louder, highlighting the need for shared commitment and collective responsibility. Echoing this growing discourse is the G20 Global Inequality Report , prepare d under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz. A key fact the report mentions is that global wealth, which has more than doubled in the last two decades, reaching US$480 trillion in 2024, could have financed the eradication of world hunger, universal education for every child, and an accelerated shift away from fossil fuels had it been equitably distributed.

However, from 2000 to 2024, the top 1 per cent captured 41 per cent of all new global wealth, while the bottom half received only 1 per cent. This trend is not the inevitable outcome of globalisation or technology, as it is often claimed. The report puts this myth to rest with a simple, yet powerful message: inequality is a policy choice, and it is therefore solvable. The need of the hour for governments is to adopt alternative policy approaches that yield more equitable and fair outcomes, which in turn requires political will. Since the 1980s, many countries have adopted neoliberal policies, assuming that market forces with minimal regulation efficiently allocate resources, but this has only increased inequality. For example, the choice of tax policies, such as the value-added tax (VAT), has been regressive, as effective tax rates on corporations and the wealthiest individuals in most countries have fallen dramatically, disproportionately impacting poorer households.

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Further, with governments enacting policies that deregulated the labour market and........

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