500 economists and inequality experts from seventy countries support call for new ‘IPCC for inequality’
Former finance ministers, World Bank and IMF chief economists, Former US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and 2024 Nobel Economics Laureate Daron Acemoglu, join Thomas Piketty, Gabriel Zucman, Ha-Joon Chang, Kate Pickett, Kate Raworth, Isabella Weber, and hundreds of leading thinkers in urging a new global institution to tackle inequality.
Open letter follows recommendation of the G20’s first-ever report on global inequality, led by Nobel Economics Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz.
Hundreds of the world’s leading economists and other experts on inequality from seventy countries are urging world leaders to establish an International Panel on Inequality (IPI) inspired by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPI is the central recommendation of the G20’s first ever report on global inequality, which will be presented to leaders at next week’s G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg.
Commissioned by President Ramaphosa as part of South Africa’s G20 Presidency – and chaired by Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Economics Laureate and former Chief Economist of the World Bank – the G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Inequality warns leaders of an “inequality emergency” and calls for a new international body to inform governments, Fpolicymakers, and the international community.
Now, in an open letter to world leaders, renowned scholars including 2024 Nobel Economics Laureate Daron Acemoglum, Thomas Piketty, Gabriel Zucman, Kate Pickett, Richard Wilkinson, Ha-Joon Chang, Isabella Weber, Jason Hickel, Nora Lustig, and Seye Abimbola are urging the creation of an IPI. They join senior global economic leaders, including former US Treasury Secretary and Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen, three former Chief Economists and two Deputy Chief Economists of the World Bank, several of the Bank’s other former senior leaders, and former senior leadership from the IMF, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank.
Three UN Special Rapporteurs on extreme poverty and human rights have backed the IPI – including current mandate holder Olivier De Schutter – alongside a former UN Under Secretary General for Economic & Social Affairs; and former senior leadership from the IMF, OECD, ILO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNU-WIDER, and the US Joint Economic Committee. Several former government ministers – Martin Guzmán, former Economy Minister of Argentina; José Antonio Ocampo, former Finance Minister of Colombia; and Clare Short, former UK Secretary of State for International Development – have also joined.
In their letter, the experts say they are ”profoundly concerned” that “extreme concentrations of wealth translate into undemocratic concentrations of power, unravelling trust in our societies and polarising our politics.” They warn that “economic inequality is an engine that drives rapid climate change and ensures its negative impacts are disproportionately felt by the poorest and most vulnerable people.”
“Inequality is not inevitable; it is a policy choice,” they say. “Clear and proven steps can be taken to reduce it and build more equal societies and economies, which are the fundamental foundation stone of a successful future for us all.” They remind leaders that a better understanding of inequality and its drivers is “in the interests of policy makers from across the political spectrum.”
The experts represent a broad range of disciplines, including economists, political scientists, climate scientists, sociologists, epidemiologists, anthropologists, historians, geographers, philosophers, which they say highlights that “high levels of economic inequality have a negative impact on every aspect of human life and progress, including our economies, our democracies and the very survival of the planet.”
Thomas Piketty, Professor at EHESS and at the Paris School of Economics; Co-director, World Inequality Lab & World Inequality Database, and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, said:
“We are at a dangerous moment in human history. Rampant inequality is dividing nations and communities, threatening our social fabric, human rights, and the very essence of democracy. A global effort to tackle inequality is needed – and rigorous analysis of its causes, drivers, and solutions is the first step. Governments need to live up to the G20 Summit’s promise of ‘solidarity, equality, sustainability’ and urgently establish an International Panel on Inequality.”
Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York, co-founder of The Equality Trust, and co-author of The Spirit Level, said:
‘We know inequality undermines every measure of a good society. Decades of research have shown inequality is linked to a host of social ills including lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, worse educational attainment, increased mental illness and stress, higher crime rates and imprisonment, and lower social trust. If we want safe, cohesive, societies where everyone stands a fair chance, governments need take tackling inequality seriously – and an IPCC-style body for inequality is the essential first step.”
Ha-Joon Chang, Research Professor at the Department of Economics of SOAS University of London Co-Director of the Centre for Sustainable Structural Transformation, and author of Kicking Away the Ladder, said:
‘High inequality is the result of decades of a failed economics that has primarily benefited the richest in our societies. Not only is there a lot of evidence showing that higher inequality produces more negative economic and social outcomes, there are quite a few examples of more egalitarian societies growing much faster than comparable but more unequal societies.’
The report of the G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Inequality revealed that the richest 1% captured 41% of new wealth since the year 2000, while the bottom 50% of humanity have increased their wealth by just 1%. This means that the richest 1% have seen their average wealth rise by US$1.3m, while the bottom 50% have seen their wealth rise by just US$585 over the same period, in constant 2024 dollars.
83% of all countries, accounting for 90% of the world’s population, meet the World Bank’s definition of high inequality. Countries with high inequality are seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal countries.
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Notes for editors
The letter is available here.
The G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Inequality presented their report to President Ramaphosa in Cape Town last week. They will present their findings at the G20 Leaders Summit on 22/23 November.
Extraordinary Committee report: https://g20.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2-G20-Global-Inequality-Report-Full-and-Summary.pdf
Extraordinary Committee press release: https://g20.org/g20-media/landmark-g20-report-led-by-nobel-laureate-joseph-stiglitz-sounds-alarm-on-inequality-emergency-and-calls-for-international-panel-on-inequality/