Many of us are richer, healthier and maybe happier than previous generations. Despite the increases on stress, inequality, anxiety and isolation, our little world can become a better place, with the right actions and some luck. That means, that we are more prosperous now than we were in the past.
Prosperity and material safety (not abundance) is important for freedom and long term thinking. Setting a family, working on a legacy or topics that matter, considering our priorities in life are only a luxury for those who have the resources and time, not to worry excessively about what to eat tomorrow.
It is no surprise that the richer could invest more in climate shock adaptions, health crisis, educaction, and social programs in general. There is a bigger buffer, so more resources can be on investment than in consumption. It is a choice, and not destiny, that richer nations can become healthier, equal, sustainable and inclusive.
That means, that the best pace to ensure that most humanity is willing to apply policies and investments to make the world a better place in the long term, we need to lift up billions of people our of poverty.
To most of us, the policies may sound repetitive and even obvious, but please look carefully at the qualitative details, as they define the success of our journey.
- Trade, is probably one of most effective ways to lift up people from poverty. But a trade that is fair and meaningful, not only based on comparative advantage but also on the fact that we exchange products that are not competitively in local markets. The most efficient (highly specialized) trade may not be the safest, so food/water/soil and energy security must be consider, not only relative prices.
- Gender equality, yes and almost in all cases. Focus on the conditions for inequality and not in the outcomes, so freedom on choice remains, while wage and career gaps should only be explained by invidual and not parental reasons. It is not a women topic, man are heavily responsible of how much we achieve on that topic, so take part and make equal family load and professional support a fact.
- Children at houndreds of thousands died from diarrea and other preventable diseases. We need to ensure basic sanitation and inmunization around the world, with little paternalism and a lot of coordination with local authorities.
- Many poor countries have most of materials and energy sources, yet they benefit little from them. We must ensure the rents from material extraction benefit the whole nation and not corrupt goverments. If that is not happening trade sanctions must apply. They should also be limited gains from the explotation of such resources, and a fair distribution of the benefits should happen from extraction to consumption.
Contrary to the mainstraim idea that global economic growth will lift all boats, it is important to evaluate the nature and fairness of such growth, as a very concentrated conversion of growth into wealth is a poor policy for poverty eradication. Instead of correcting a faulting system with individual philantropists, we should create the conditions for trade, health and enterprenouship to flourish in all nations.
There is nothing as good or bad poverty, but there is definetely bad growth (pollutant, unequal, rebundant, rentistic) and good growth(green, fair, critical and meritocratic). While the obvious statement that the poor need some growth, we must understand that only the development that truly impacts the life of the poor, in the just proportion, is the one we should aim too.
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