Politics

But what will the poor billionaires do?

I'm very glad to see practical research like this being done. I'm sure it's not popular with the Evilcorps of the world, but at least people are thinking about real solutions.

The question of how much production is necessary to end poverty cannot be answered by assessing PPP-based incomes or aggregate GDP. It is necessary to assess what is being produced, and whether people have access to necessary goods and services. Development strategy should focus on ensuring the efficient production of and universal access to the specific goods that people require to achieve decent lives and good social outcomes, including nutritious food, safe housing, healthcare, education, sanitation, transit, information technology, and household durables. This can be done while also reducing less-necessary forms of production, particularly in high-income countries, in order to bring resource use back to sustainable levels.

So basically, money is not the whole answer, but providing everyone with the fundamental/essential things they need to live decent lives will get them most of the way there. Seems pretty straightforward and doable to me, if a few powerful people are forced to part with their insatiable greed.

(PPP = purchasing power parity, for those like me who didn't know.)

The transition is part of the problem. Even if the wealthy agreed, such a change couldn't happen quickly as it would break the very society that the world exists on.

Then there's the issue that 30% is still far too high, illustrating how even though we toss around the population number a lot, we do not comprehend what a huge number that is.