Mozidur R Biswas :
The political dilemma of the ongoing world economy transpires that the advanced economies of the world are mastering the waves of all methodologies of development when globalization has reached its peak.
In line with that, the nation-states and their mass politics could in no way coexist as the ongoing economic world is marked by wide-ranging efforts in many ways for achieving development.
The societies themselves across the globe have been endeavouring to settle all their relevant issues within their own government functionaries in line with global changes.
The entire issue, has thoroughly been researched in a pragmatic way by ‘Pew Research Center'(PRC) through a comprehensive survey of 36 nations to find out the causative factor about the spreading of economic inequality. The matter has emerged as a big issue which is continuously mounting public concern about the creation of inequality in different societies.
When asked about the real cause that leads to creating this inequality, in societies, prominent global financial experts and analysts examining the pros and cons of the issue of inequality having a comprehensive survey, pointed out that it is the outcome of intersection of growing wealth and prevailing political system of societies.
The key findings of the survey include:(1) A median of 54 percent of adults across the nations surveyed say the gap between the rich and the poor is a very big problem in their country.
Another 30 percent say it is a moderately big problem, (2) A median of 60 percent believe that rich people having too much political influence contributes a great deal toward economic inequality, {3) These views are especially common among people on the ideological left, though many on the right agree. Ideological divisions are particularly large in the United States and some big countries.
Throughout this report, median scores are used to help readers see overall patterns in the data. The median percentage is the middle number in a list of all percentages sorted from highest to lowest. The survey, conducted in spring 2024, also finds deep global anxieties about the economic future and a strong desire for economic reform in line with global changes. (4) A median of 57percent of adults across the nations polled expect children in their country to be worse off financially than their parents when they grow up. This view is particularly widespread in several high-income nations, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
For the most part, this pessimistic view about the economic future is shared by younger and older adults alike, as well as by people with higher and lower incomes.
However, in several countries, the public is more optimistic than pessimistic about the financial prospects of the next generation. These include a few South Asian and Southeast Asian nations: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and some other nation states of this category.
And there is modest optimism in some Latin American nations, too. About half of those surveyed in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico think today’s children will be better off than their parents, while around four-in-ten or more say they will be worse off.
Mention may be made here that in many countries, there is more economic pessimism nowadays than before the COVID-19 pandemic – which hurt many people economically. In 31 countries where trends are still available, the share of the public who thinks children will be worse off financially than their parents is higher today than in pre-pandemic surveys.
Majorities in 33 of 36 nations also think their country’s economic system needs major changes or complete reform. People in middle-income nations in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East-North Africa region are especially likely to want this degree of change.
Still, people in many wealthier countries want change, too. At least six-in-ten adults in most of the European nations surveyed want major economic changes or complete reform; 66% share this view in the U.S. In almost every country polled, people who see economic inequality as a very big problem are significantly more likely than others to want major changes or complete economic reform.
Overall, more than eight-in-ten adults say that rich people having too much influence over politics contributes to economic inequality either a great deal of 60 percent at the median, or a fair amount like 26 percent. But respondents see other factors as important, too. Majorities across the countries surveyed believe problems with the education system add to inequality in their nation.
Voters in more than 60 countries went to the polls in 2024. In many of these countries – including France, Japan, South Africa, the UK and the U.S. – incumbents lost or suffered major electoral setbacks. Economic concerns played a key role in these elections. For more, read our data essay: Global Elections in 1924, what we learned in a year of Political Disruption.
But there’s concern about other forms of inequality as well. Roughly two-thirds say discrimination against people based on their race or ethnicity is a very or moderately big problem where they live, while about six-in-ten say this about gender inequality. And more than half describe discrimination against people based on their religion as a big problem.
Lastly, we need to mention here that, in addition to the above, economic inequality can be caused by many factors, including education, unemployment, climate change and lastly effects of continuous globalisation. Moreover, technological progress, commodity prices cycles, domestic economic policies such as redistributive fiscal policies, labour and product market policies including economic discrimination.
Though we have not felt like bringing here in this write-up the basic economic system like capitalism, socialism and many other systems, such as free market economy and other economic orders that are being adopted by political authorities in developed, less developed (LDC), middle income countries. Those academic economic systems are being categorised by modern economists and Financial experts in the best interest of individual nations, in line with global changes.
(The Writer is a Senior Journalist, teaches at 2 universities, served in 5 Ministries of the Government (First BCS-1973), writes mainly on Promoting Knowledge-based Society, Socio-Economic Transformation, Climate Change, Rule of Law and Human Rights & Good Governance.)
