Joseph Stiglitz : The end of neoliberalism and the rebirth of history

[PETRUS]

87. That's not really true.

On inequality: Only about 5% of new income is going to the poorest 60% of humankind. The gap in per capita GDP between the global north and global south has doubled since 1980. And, as most US citizens are painfully aware of, inequality has been getting worse not only between countries, but within them.

On poverty: There are at least two problems with the statistics deployed to claim improvements in poverty reduction. One is the heavy reliance on the inclusion of data from China. As Turin_C3PO pointed out, China did not follow the neoliberal prescription, and as you pointed out, their policies are hardly progressive. China is an outlier and an exception (and not a model I'd imagine you would suggest following). The so-called improvements in global poverty reduction vanish without China. The other problem is that these statistics use the $1.90 per day threshold. $1.90 per day has been judged insufficient to provide the basic nutrition necessary for a normal life span. Using the $1.90 baseline, we are forced to confront a paradox: there are fewer poor people than there are hungry people. Does that make any sense? (No, it doesn't.) An evidence-based poverty line is around $7.40 per day. By that measure, there are one billion more people in poverty than there were in 1980. And excluding China, the percentage of the world's population living in poverty has increased by six points (going from 62% to 68%) in that time.

The systems producing these feeble results are also pushing us into frightening territory with respect to ecological limits. The “everything is getting better” line advanced by the likes of Steven Pinker and Bill Gates not only relies on the disingenuous use of statistics, the corollaries are dangerous – staying the course is recipe for disaster.

I'd like to add that I have a great deal of respect for you. You write clearly, you have a broad range of knowledge, and have posted things that indicate you understand macroeconomics way better than the average person (which goes a long way with me). So I'm dismayed that you've subscribed to the rosy story about poverty and inequality that some people are telling. I'm hoping I can encourage you to consider that narrative with some skepticism and research it a bit more deeply.