EQUALS: Reimagining Our Economy

This week Finance Ministers from across the world will attend the IMF–World Bank meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, and Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s boss has called on governments to implement swingeing cuts to their spending and increase costs of basic goods- known as austerity measures. As governments face an increasing debt crisis and rising global tensions these cuts are presented as unavoidabl...

The rise of the far right, and of fascism is all around us, all over the world. It is vitally important now more than ever to learn from history, from the rise of the far right in the 1930’s, what attracted people to fascism, and how people organised to fight back. 90 years ago, in East London, fascists mobilised to march through a very poor Jewish area. At Cable Street, tens of thousands of peopl...

We are back! EQUALS Season 9 is officially here. And we’re starting with a massive question: Is neoliberalism dead? To answer it, we are thrilled to welcome back one of the world’s greatest economists on inequality and globalization, Branko Milanović, to discuss his groundbreaking latest book, The Great Global Transformation . In this season premiere, we pull back the curtain on: The Changing Glob...

Following our conversation with Olivier De Schutter on A Roadmap to End Poverty Beyond Growth , this episode concludes our two-part series exploring bold roadmaps for a just and sustainable future. Too often, climate breakdown and economic inequality are treated as separate crises. But what if they're two sides of the same problem, and one cannot be solved without confronting the other? In this ep...

For decades, governments have measured success with GDP growth. But even with years of economic expansion, poverty persists, inequality is growing and climate crisis is worsening. In this episode, we speak with Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, about his groundbreaking roadmap to end poverty without relying on endless GDP growth. Drawing on years o...

For many Indigenous communities, inequality is not simply about income or opportunity. It is about power, representation and land. In this episode, Nafkote Dabi and Max Lawson speak with Larissa Baldwin-Roberts, a Widjabul Wia-bal woman, climate justice advocate, and one of Australia's leading campaigners for First Nations rights. Drawing on her experience working across Indigenous justice, refuge...

What happens when basic public goods become a private, paid for service, education becomes a profit-turning treadmill and meanwhile millions live in chronic insecurity? In this episode Max and Grazielle interview renowned economist Guy Standing , exploring his argument that the privatization of public goods or what he calls the “plunder of the commons” has produced a new global class, the Precaria...

This week on EQUALS , we explore “Muskism” — the growing power of tech billionaires and what it means for democracy, inequality, and the future of society. Authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff argue that Elon Musk is not just a billionaire entrepreneur, but a sign of a deeper transformation in capitalism, technology, and political power. From AI and social media to electric vehicles, digital in...

In this episode, Adam Hanieh explains why crises like war, financial shocks, and pandemics don’t stay where they start. They move through the structures of the global economy. He explains how the effect of the Middle East war is going to move beyond borders through energy prices, food prices and security and consequently high cost of living, hitting the poorest of the population the hardest. Drawi...

In this episode, we move beyond measuring inequality to examine how it is lived and experienced by people who are affected by it and why that distinction matters for policy. Dr. Wanga Zembe-Mkabile, social policy expert and one of the Founding Committee members of the International Panel on Inequality (IPI), brings a critical perspective often missing from economic debates: the human and embodied...

From rising billionaire wealth to dying public services, the gap between who has and who doesn’t is widening almost everywhere. Costs are climbing, and for millions, economic security is slipping further out of reach. And for once, there’s broad agreement, from the G20 to the UN to leading economists. The diagnosis is in. Inequality is no longer a side issue—it’s the issue. In this episode, we exp...

Norway is often seen as one of the most equal countries in the world. But is it really? In this episode Trine Østereng unpacks the reality behind the reputation, and the answer is uncomfortable. While some aspects of Norwegian society, like incomes, remain spectacularly equal, wealth at the top is becoming increasingly concentrated, giving a small elite outsized economic and political power. For e...

Why do women’s rights advance in some societies — and decline in others? In this episode, historian and gender scholar Kristen Ghodsee explains why economic inequality is one of the most powerful drivers of gender inequality. Drawing on decades of research comparing socialist and capitalist societies, Ghodsee shows how policies such as universal childcare, public services, and guaranteed employmen...

Is the immigration debate really about borders — or is it a political smokescreen? In this episode, we unpack how migrants are often turned into political scapegoats to redirect public anger away from the real causes of public frustration —rising inequality, underfunded public services, unemployment, and the soaring cost of living. Migration policy expert Zoe Gardner brings a UK lens, showing how...

When countries fall into debt, who actually pays the price? In this episode, we talk to Matthew Martin, a passionate advocate for debt relief and inequality, who shares his personal journey from experiencing apartheid in South Africa to becoming a leading voice in the fight against global debt crises. Matthew discusses the intricate relationship between debt and inequality, highlighting how high d...

Most activists don’t wilfully choose a life of protest. But sometimes, we are left with no other option. In this episode we speak with three activists from Kenya, Nepal, and France who explain what drove them to the streets to fight for their cause and the brutal violence they met from the state. We explore the profound cost to citizens when their governments choose force over justice. From inform...

“What you have here is a long-term systemic transfer of wealth away from middle classes, away from rich governments and towards a small super rich elite.”- Gary Stevenson” To coincide speak with the release of Oxfam’s Davos report , we speak with Gary Stevenson , who became a millionaire by betting that ordinary people’s living standards would keep falling while wealth piled up at the top. Gary ex...

Did you know that governments in Europe are able to spend 40 times more per child on education than governments in Sub-Saharan Africa? In this episode, world renowned economist Thomas Piketty breaks down the World Inequality Report 2026 and explains why today’s inequality is no longer a slow-moving crisis but an emergency. He shows how the global financial system is designed to extract wealth from...

What happens when healthcare becomes a financial asset? In this episode, Anna Marriott and Dr. Aquina Thulare break down the dangers of health privatization and financialization . They explain how private equity and hedge funds are transforming hospitals into profit machines, putting patient care and public health at risk. Dr. Aquina Thulare describes how South Africa is fighting back with nationa...

When Super Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines, 16-year-old Marinel Ubaldo watched her world wash away and learned a truth million on the frontlines already know: climate change is not a distant threat, but a lived injustice. Since then she’s become a fearless voice for accountability, loss and damage, and community-powered resilience. In this EQUALS episode, Marinel takes us inside the ni...

When an oil site was approved near her home, Sarah Finch didn’t just protest, she took her fight to the UK Supreme Court. And won. In this powerful episode, Sarah joins Nafkote Dabi and Max Lawson to share the story behind her five-year legal battle that changed everything: a ruling that now forces every new fossil fuel project in Britain to confront its true climate impact. It’s a landmark victor...

Can finance be part of the solution to inequality? Following philosopher Dr. Ingrid Robeyns’ call to ask “How much wealth is too much?” , we meet someone trying to change the system from within. João Paulo Pacífico says he is ‘hacking’ the system using the tools of finance to fight inequality and support social movements like Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) . He shares why he capped his...

Around the world, peace talks too often exclude the very people holding communities together. In this powerful episode, Max and Grazielle sit down with Dr. Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini , and Dr. Sarah Ihmoud , to unpack what happens when women lead peace and the human cost for the war in Gaza. From Northern Ireland’s Women’s Coalition to Palestinian women’s resistance and survival in Gaza, they reveal...

Can a society survive when a few own everything? Philosopher Ingrid Robeyns joins EQUALS to make the case for limitarianism , the radical yet common sense idea that there should be a limit to how much wealth one person can have. From super rich billions to democracy’s decline, Ingrid explains how excessive wealth erodes freedom, fairness, and even the planet’s survival. 🎧 Listen now and ask yours...

From the trenches of war in Ukraine, to strikes against austerity in the UK, and the struggle for migrant workers’ rights in South Korea, trade unions are demonstrating extraordinary resilience . In this EQUALS episode, three union leaders share how working people are standing strong against war, exploitation, and political repression: Ivanna Khrapko from Federations of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FP...