My book, The Cooperative Economy, offers a solution to societal grand challenges such as economic inequality.

In the past few decades, and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, the rich have become richer while the poor have become poorer. For example, in the United States, three individuals possess wealth that is greater than that of half of the population. Whereas the income share of the affluent has increased, their tax liability has declined, in part due to regressive taxation and in part due to tax evasion. Economic inequality has been related to shortened life expectancy and illness as well as to corruption and political instability. The middle class in Western society has witnessed the sharpest decline in purchasing power.

Several approaches have been pursued to combat economic inequality. However, although the United Nations has recognized the importance of reducing inequality and ending poverty and hunger, governments have shifted the tax burden from rich corporations to families. The international agreement on minimum corporate tax rate that was signed in October 2021 is insufficient for stopping this trend and preventing tax evasion. Some public welfare programs have only reinforced inequality by depriving the needy from opportunities to become economically independent. Labor unions have lost membership and power under flexible employment regulation, while technology development has benefited capital owners rather than employees. Thus, economic inequality persists.

It is time to consider a new approach to cope with economic inequality. I discuss such an approach in my book The Cooperative Economy, now available from Routledge or Amazon.