World Inequality Lab

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗣𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 and 𝗞𝗶𝗺 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 in conversation at the World Inequality Conference 2026👇 Thomas Piketty, who led the *Global Justice Report* released in June 2026, and Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the globally acclaimed science-fiction novel *The Ministry for the Future*, explore questions at the heart of both their work: 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲—𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲—𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝘆? The 20th century showed that societies can reduce inequality on a vast scale and profoundly transform their economies. What stands in the way is political imagination, and the ability to build coalitions. 🎥 Full video on YouTube (link in comments).

🎙️ New EQUALS: Reimagining Our Economy’s episode is out! The Global Justice Blueprint: A Roadmap to Equality, Shared Prosperity and Climate Justice Too often, climate breakdown and economic inequality are treated as separate crises. But the two are sides of the same problem and one cannot be solved without confronting the other? In our previous episode, Olivier De Schutter challenged the idea that endless GDP growth is the only path to ending poverty. In this conversation, we continue that discussion by asking a different question: Can we create shared prosperity for all while staying within planetary boundaries? Nafkote Dabi and Max Lawson are joined by Anmol Somanchi, Moritz Odersky and Cornelia Mohren (Nelly) from the World Inequality Lab to unpack the Global Justice Report, an ambitious roadmap that argues a fairer world is not only possible, but necessary to tackling the climate crisis. The conversation explores why inequality, and climate crises must be addressed together, the progressive wealth tax of up to 20% for billionaires that will bring the end of billionaire class and how we can build public support for a more just and sustainable future. 🎧 Listen now and join the conversation: https://lnkd.in/djfHhRYK #ClimateJustice #EconomicJustice #Inequality #ClimateChange #TaxJustice #GlobalJustice #Economics #Sustainability #Podcast

Is it possible for all countries to achieve prosperity while staying within the 2 degree carbon budget? This question lies at the heart of the Global Justice Report (GJR) published recently by the World Inequality Lab. Alongside a range of positive reviews, the GJR has also attracted criticisms from different angles. The latest example is the recent article in the Financial Times which dismisses the GJR as a call for degrowth (https://lnkd.in/ejpYCMjv). Such criticisms are, unfortunately, wide off the mark. - They miss out that the GJR argues for extremely rapid growth in most of the world. - They ignore historical responsibilities of the Global North with regards to the carbon budget. - They rely on unrealistic optimism on the scale & speed of decoupling possible. - And ultimately, they miss the most crucial point: for the carbon footprint and welfare, it is the *content* of growth (the sectoral composition) that matters and not it's aggregate headline (GDP). We briefly respond to these criticisms in today's edition of the Financial Times. Available online here: https://lnkd.in/eg8RtPcT Thomas Piketty Lucas Chancel Cornelia Mohren Moritz Odersky Jonas Dietrich

Redistribuer les richesses à l'échelle mondiale pour assurer des modes de vie durables et désirables à tout·es les habitant·es de la planète : c'est possible, nécessaire et pas si compliqué. Les économistes du World Inequality Lab Thomas Piketty, Gaston Nievas et Paula Druschke ont présenté les propositions ambitieuses et audacieuses du Global Justice Project, et c'est extrêmement stimulant ! J'ai eu l'honneur de discuter les propositions du Global Justice Fund, et de la réforme des droits de vote du FMI aux côtés de l'économiste Jayati Gosh et de l'activiste David Adler lors de la table-ronde "Do we need a Bretton Woods reset in order to save the planet?" Lire le Global Justice Project : https://lnkd.in/eHSm3phg https://lnkd.in/eh_gg5pw

World Inequality Conference 2026 HIGHLIGHTS 📸✨ Over three days, more than 450 researchers from around the world came together in Paris for the third edition of the conference, which featured more than 80 plenary discussions and parallel sessions with leading scholars, policymakers and public intellectuals. 🔴 Videos of the plenary sessions are now available to watch on replay (🔗link in the comments) From wealth concentration and billionaire taxation to climate change, economic democracy, gender equality and the future of work, discussions explored how inequalities are evolving and what institutions, policies and forms of international cooperation may be needed to build a more equitable and sustainable future. The conference marked the launch of the #GlobalJusticeReport, which proposes concrete pathways towards achieving greater global equality while remaining within planetary boundaries. We were also delighted to present the Global Inequality Research Award (GiRA) to Jean Drèze in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the measurement of poverty and inequality in India and his advocacy for landmark social protection policies. A huge THANK YOU to all the speakers, participants, sponsors and colleagues who made these three days possible.

💰 56,000 people own three times as much wealth as half of humanity. That is one of the headline findings of the World Inequality Report 2026, which Ricardo Gómez-Carrera co-authored with Lucas Chancel, Rowaida Moshrif, and Thomas Piketty. It draws on research and data compiled by more than 200 researchers affiliated with the World Inequality Database and the World Inequality Lab. The report’s central message is simple and astonishing: the world is extremely unequal, and at the very top, extreme wealth inequality is (still) rapidly increasing. 🔎 Read the full article on our LSE International Inequalities Institute blog: https://ow.ly/BtKM50Z85eC

One week after the launch of the #GlobalJusticeReport, we've received a wide range of reactions. Some criticisms have raised important questions that deserve discussion.   Here are three common criticisms or misunderstandings we'd like to address:   1️⃣ "The report advocates de-growth” Degrowth in global emissions: yes. Degrowth in billionaire wealth: yes. Degrowth in income for the vast majority of people: no. In our central scenario, more than 98% of the world's population experiences real income growth over the next decades. This share reaches 94% in Europe and 86% in North America. Global GDP rises by a factor of 4 between today and 2100.    2️⃣ "The report uses an unrealistically pessimistic 4.5°C warming scenario as baseline." The temperature projections in our "growth-focused" macroeconomic scenarios come from our own modelling, not from RCP8.5 or any other standard pathway. They describe a future combining rapid economic growth and little climate action, and rest on three core assumptions: global GDP increases by a factor of 8 between today and 2100; sectoral consumption structures remain broadly unchanged; and energy developments follow current-policy trajectories from the International Energy Agency, extended to 2100.    3️⃣ "The report is a utopian dream." The Global Justice Report proposes ambitious scenarios to reconcile prosperity for all and planetary habitability. While in the current techno-dystopian discourse the report might seem utopian, the proposals are too moderate or gradualist by important yardsticks. Through the Global Justice Fund, the report proposes investments of around 10% of global GDP per year until 2060 to gradually expand access to education and healthcare worldwide and finance the climate transition. Providing education and healthcare everywhere in the world at today's high-income-country standards overnight would require investments equivalent to around 40% of global GDP. Similarly, the Platform does not go far enough to fully compensate for historical colonial and climate damages.  As The Guardian Editorial noted earlier this week: "Critics [of the Global Justice Report] will say that the report is a utopian dream. [...] The question is why such an attractive bargain has become so difficult to sell."   And finally, a reminder that this report is the result of a collective research initiative by the World Inequality Lab. The project involves a team of 45 contributors. In addition, more than 200 researchers participated in the construction of the World Inequality Database used in this research. Thank you for all the comments and questions we've received so far. We look forward to continuing the discussion.

Today, we were delighted to present the Global Inequality Research Award (GiRA) to Belgian-born Indian development economist Jean Drèze at the World Inequality Conference at Paris School of Economics. The award recognizes his outstanding contributions to the measurement of poverty and inequality in India, as well as his advocacy for landmark social protection policies, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the National Food Security Act (NFSA). More than anyone, Jean Drèze has bridged research and action, helping to establish a rights-based framework for social protection in India and demonstrating how rigorous scholarship can contribute to meaningful social change. The GiRA was established by the WIL and Sciences Po Centre de Recherche sur les Inégalités Sociales (CRIS) to recognize, every two years, researchers from all disciplines who have made a significant contribution to the understanding of global inequalities.