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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Thomas Piketty, Lucas Chancel, Cornelia Mohren, Rowaida Moshrif, Moritz Odersky and Anmol Somanchi

A good life for the 99% isn’t a pipe dream: it can be done. Here’s how

People wade through flood waters after heavy monsoon rains in Feni, south-eastern Bangladesh, 24 August 2024.
People wade through flood waters after heavy monsoon rains in Feni, south-eastern Bangladesh, 24 August 2024. Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images

Imagine a future in which everyone enjoys high levels of wellbeing; where 90% of the world’s population doubles their income but works half the hours we work today. A world in which the bottom half of humanity sees its share of global wealth rise from just 2% today to 30%; a world where we consume enough, but nobody over-consumes. And imagine achieving this on a planet that can comfortably sustain human life without its climate breaking down.

Against the bleak techno-authoritarian futures now being sold to us, a radical new vision for global progress in the 21st century feels urgently needed. The most credible vision is one in which the habitability of the planet is a precondition for human development and equality.

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