Changing The Narrative On Wealth Inequality
#notesFromPaper Year : 2024 Tags :
- wealth is increasingly inherited, not earned.
- the wealthy design laws that protect their wealth. In a larger sense, the economy as a whole is designed — and something we can change.
- people sometimes become de-motivated to act when informed about inequality. Being solutions focused prevents this.
- perceptions of inequality is uncorrelated from actual inequality
- discuss local factors, or try and tie in local politics.
- frame wealth inequality as a social failing, not an individual failing
- e.g. “Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so. Resources were available to the Treasury at the last budget that could have transformed the situation of millions of people living in poverty, but the political choice was made to fund tax cuts for the wealthy instead”
- Robeyns et al. (2021) hypothesised that ‘citizens may be unwilling to support policies that limit a person’s wealth if it is unclear what society would gain’.
- visual framing: don’t use images of yachts and suits. Instead, highlight the effects wealth extraction has, e.g. by using photos of environmental desolation or slums next to skyscrapers.
- there’s a ton of nuances between ‘the rich have more than the poor’ or ‘the poor have less than the rich’
