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The global economy is broken, it must work for people, not vice versa

Three new books reveal the same picture: the global economy is shattered. They suggest how a more people-focused approach than capitalism might alleviate poverty and encourage jobs

By Joanna Kavenna

31 July 2019

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

The global crash closed many businesses in New York

Juliw Dermansky/Polaris/Eyevine

IN 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union. Since then, the country has been in crisis. Talk has been of virtually nothing else. Then there is the talk about the talk. “To say the present era is one of crisis borders on cliché,” writes Aaron Bastani in his polemical manifesto Fully Automated Luxury Communism.

What else could he say, given the situation? This grim picture is expanded on in two more books. In Measuring Poverty Around the World, Anthony Atkinson wrestles with the fact that…

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