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Income inequality

Income inequality
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Income inequality. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
People disembark from a boat after being evacuated from a flooded village in Nagaon district in northeastern Assam state, India, on May 18. Photo: Reuters
United Nations

Eye on Asia | Asia-Pacific at crossroads amid climate change, Covid-19 and conflict

The region has made tremendous progress in the past 75 years, but now it faces a series of overlapping and cascading challenges. We need crisis-prepared policies to protect our most vulnerable populations and get back on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Coronavirus pandemic

Opinion | Asia must close the pandemic learning gap to tackle wealth inequality

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China's economic recovery

Has the time come for China to give cash handouts to stimulate its economy?

Lunar: Newsletter

Philippine election ‘pink wave’, ‘brown face’ drama and more

Philippine election ‘pink wave’, ‘brown face’ drama and more
Hollywood

10 times Hollywood celebrities fought for equal pay for women

Which celebrities have challenged convention and fought for pay parity in Hollywood, both for themselves and their female peers?

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China’s Communist Party

Does China’s goal of common prosperity leave room for the super-rich?

After a campaign to curb what President Xi Jinping called the ‘disorderly expansion of capital’, entrepreneurs await signs that they still have a role to play.

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Poverty in China

‘It’s a headache’: China’s local officials grapple with ‘common prosperity’

Xi Jinping’s trademark plan to reduce wealth inequality is being hampered by confusion, especially at the local level, about how best to help poor citizens and drive development.

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China wants to tackle social and economic inequality, with the goal of achieving so-called common prosperity by 2050. Photo: Xinhua
China economy

China’s middle class frets about the future under Xi’s ‘common prosperity’

President Xi Jinping’s goal to reduce wealth inequality is front and centre on the government agenda, but heavy-handed regulation and a slowing economy has some middle-class Chinese worried about their future.

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The Philippines

‘A blessing from God’: young Filipinos struggle amid teen pregnancy boom

Every day, some 500 teenage girls give birth in the Philippines, where preventing teen pregnancies was made a ‘national priority’ by President Duterte last year – yet teens still need parental consent to access contraception.

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Coronavirus pandemic

WHO, Commonwealth make jabs access plea for vulnerable small nations

WHO, Commonwealth meet to sign agreement on ending pandemic, fighting vaccine inequality; ‘equal access to vaccines is most pressing political, economic, social and moral priority’.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). He has met Commonwealth of Nations Secretary-General Patricia Scotland in Geneva to sign an agreement focused on ending the pandemic and fighting vaccine inequity. File photo: Reuters
China economy

China’s wealth inequality has worsened in pandemic, Oxfam finds

World Bank Group also warns that the pandemic has widened the rich-poor gap, particularly in emerging markets and developing economies such as China.

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China’s income and wealth inequality is worse than that of European countries, but it is better than in the US and many Latin American and African countries, according to international findings. Photo: Xinhua
Coronavirus pandemic

Opinion | Disaster looms if leaders continue to ignore cries for a fairer world

The Covid-19 and climate crises have irreversibly changed how most people view politics and business – witness America’s ‘Great Resignation’ and China’s ‘lying flat’ movement. The world urgently needs social-justice oriented solutions.

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India

How delivery man’s death struck heart of the India middle class dream

Salil Tripathi, a 36-year-old delivery rider in Delhi, was killed instantly when a car driven by a drunk policeman hit him. His death has touched many in India, where millions who dream of joining the middle class face considerable obstacles.

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Climate change

Opinion | Climate, pandemic challenges loom large as leaders obsess over politics

The global response to Covid-19 and climate change illustrates how the profit motive has blunted the human imperative. Instead of joining forces against existential threats, leaders are focused on geopolitical competition and securing political power.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Democracy in China

Opinion | What’s driving the global crisis of democracy?

Politicians in democracies are aware of the need for painful structural reforms but hesitate to undertake them for fear of losing the next election.

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Supporters of US president Donald Trump riot at the US Capitol building in Washington on January 6. Multiple reports have detailed the trend of democratic backsliding and the rise of more authoritarian governance. Photo: TNS
Coronavirus pandemic

Letters | What needs to happen for 2022 to be a year of hope for the world

Hope in the new year depends on conquering Covid-19 through vaccination, managing climate change, spurring economic growth and reducing disparities.

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China's economic recovery

‘Under great pressure to survive’, China’s small firms close at record pace

Just this month, a former finance minister said official economic indicators failed to paint an accurate picture of China’s economy, and publicly available data did not show how many firms had vanished.

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Lenovo

Chinese firms ‘deeply worried’ as wave of nationalist antagonism rises

China’s largest PC maker grilled on social media over its sale of state assets, high executive pay and its foreign executives threatening national security. Owners of private companies in China worry they’re next.

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Illustration: Perry Tse
China economy

Opinion | How China can avoid the excesses of unrestrained Western capitalism

China and the West face similar challenges – widening income disparities, powerful Big Tech firms, deepening societal divide. The difference is that China is tackling them head-on as it transforms into a modern socialist economy.

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Climate change

Opinion | We need a global summit to tackle wealth inequalities

The least we can do is have a democratic, transparent and constructive dialogue on how those who can afford to, and who emit more carbon, should pay higher taxes to foster a more sustainable and inclusive world.

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Poverty

Letters | If Hong Kong is so rich, why are our children selling scrap cardboard?

Readers discuss children in poverty in Hong Kong, how fintech seems bent on encouraging spending, the efficacy of the salt and sugar labelling scheme and suggest how to further freedom of speech in China.

Children splash in puddles on Tung Choi Street on October 13. In rich and peaceful Hong Kong, every child should be happily going to school, getting a good education and playing with their peers. Photo: Felix Wong
Squid Game

Letters | Why Hong Kong youth are vulnerable to Squid Game’s cry of despair

The hit Netflix series tells a tale of desperate people in a highly unequal society scrambling for a slim chance to escape debt. Young people who might see parallels between Squid Game and Hong Kong must be taught there’s still hope to build a better tomorrow.

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Halloween party-goers, one wearing a Squid Game square mask, stand next to police officers at Lan Kwai Fong in Central on October 31. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
China property

The View | Why Beijing will endure property tax’s drag on the housing market

The pursuit of ‘common prosperity’ means a further housing market slowdown is not a deal-breaker. Some fundamental changes are deemed more critical for the country’s future and will better position it amid a shifting global landscape.

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Squid Game

Letters | Squid Game asks big questions about humanity’s dark side

Readers discuss the themes in Korean pop culture’s latest success, the role of housing in Hong Kong’s stability and how to head off hyperinflation.

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Poverty

Opinion | Can Asia lead the global fight to cure the poverty pandemic?

Some leaders in the region are showing signs of a new, collective economic conscience. While Fumio Kishida and Xi Jinping head efforts towards a more equal society, Joe Biden’s attempts to do likewise are crumbling in Congress.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
China economy

Macroscope | Global shift shows China’s ‘common prosperity’ goals are not unique

The breadth of Beijing’s reforms have received much attention, but policy proposals elsewhere show it is far from alone in seeking to put people before profit. However, governments also have to strike a balance between improving equality and achieving growth.

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A clock displays the time in front of posters of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Armin Laschet in Berlin on September 27. German voters called time on Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union last month, part of a global leftward shift amid an uneven recovery from the pandemic. Photo: DPA
My Hong Kong

My Hong Kong | Why Hong Kong people would win Squid Game contests hands down

The Netflix hit Korean series Squid Game revolves around simple but deadly children’s games, requiring survival skills that many Hong Kong people use in everyday life.

Hong Kong political reform

Opinion | Hong Kong’s poll reforms strike against crony capitalism

Tycoons’ share of election committee seats has shrunk while many new grass-roots candidates have emerged, including farmers, fishermen and a railway worker. It’s all part of China’s reforms to curb the rich and address inequality.

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