In collaboration with the Foundation for Subsidiarity

José Manuel Durão Barroso, former President of the European Commission and Non-Executive President of Goldman Sachs International; Branko Milanović, Economist, one of the world’s most renowned experts on inequality, Professor at the City University of New York. Introduction by Samuele Rosa, Senior Economist at the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and Foundation for Subsidiarity.

Economy is often thought to produce a kind of single thought starting from the paradigm of classical economics centered on the agent who maximizes consumption under budget constraints and the firm that maximizes profit given technologies. It is assumed that the historical form of the market economy that modern capitalism has taken should somehow lay the foundation for shared prosperity. In reality, this is not the case. Firstly, inequalities, particularly within countries, are increasing enormously. Moreover, the history of economic thought is much richer in reflections on how economic development brings inequalities and what policies need to be implemented to reduce them. We will discuss this with Professor Milanović, the world-renowned economist for his analyses of rising inequalities, who has recently enriched his work by revisiting the major classical economists to reveal their views on this topic; and we will ask the former President of the European Commission Barroso what economic and social policies have been implemented, in Europe and beyond, to address this problem.