This year at the World Economic Forum (WEF) inequality topped the bill as the most discussed issue. Inequality comes in many forms wealth, income, gender, country, age religion, etc. It’s such a priority that it’s Goal Number 10 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals- ‘to reduce inequality in and between countries’. So why is inequality such a problem? Surely in our capitalist society, you work hard you get rewarded, right? This belief is starting to be shattered all across the world and manifesting in shocks like Brexit and Trump.
My hope is that we are starting to realise than economic progress doesn’t always necessarily mean financial gain only. Stagnant economic growth was also discussed at Davos, but our mechanism to measure growth is outdated as it’s based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It’s a metric based on consumption, one could argue that it is in direct contradiction to sustainability; less waste, less resource use, less materialism. What about how we measure education, community cohesion, crime, healthcare, family, wellbeing and happiness? Lots of research has shown that increases in GDP have not equated to increases in median wages, and, after a certain level of income (depending where you live clearly) increases in your salary do not make you any happier. That’s a fact. Instead of trying to fix a broken system, we need to challenge the system. Bhutan might be on to something with Gross National Happiness, it might be a bit hippy for some, but perhaps we can strive for a middle ground like the Social Progress Index. This measures all those things that make life worth living. If we must continue to live by the mantra what gets measured gets managed, this is a viable solution. Let’s measure what matters and we may start to see some progress on inequality, and the subsequent societal changes we want to see in the world.
Originally published on The Huffington Post
Nicola Ruane is passionate about sustainable capitalism and finance as a mechanism to change the world for the better. Moving from the trading floor to a role pioneering the CSR programme of a major global bank in EMEA, Nicola is now leading Corporate Sustainability Reporting in financial services within a Big 4 firm. A One Young World Ambassador, UN speaker & yoga student, she blogs and tweets about sustainable business, millennials, women, purpose & finance.