Making the global economy work for everyone : lessons of sustainability from the tech revolution and the pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the weaknesses of globalisation, exposed the fragility of the current growth model, and accelerated the ongoing tech revolution. The world is increasingly facing the risk of decoupling between growth and employment, of a jobless growth with a disconnect between productivity and wages. This book is an in-depth analysis of these weaknesses and fragilities in the context of sustainability. Economist Marco Magnani suggests the possibility of pursuing a more balanced, environmentally and socially sustainable growth while defusing today’s apocalyptic alarmism about climate change, energy and demographic constraints, and the future of work. He explores alternative growth models —such as circular and civil economy, sharing economy, convivialism, and happy degrowth—and takes cues from them. He investigates the labour market, pinpointing occupations and work tasks at risk but also showcasing new jobs created by technology. He compares proposals such as reducing work hours, providing a job guarantee, mandating a universal basic income, and imposing a robot tax. The book makes innovative policy recommendations, such as the establishment of an endowment capital and the payment of a social dividend, and suggests a shift from re-distribution to pre-distribution policies. This will undoubtedly foster fierce debate. Marco Magnani closely examines artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, augmented reality and Internet of Things, quantum computing and blockchain, and biotechnologies and nano-materials. The reader embarks on a journey to learn about innovation, discover the threats of globalisation and the uncertainties of the labour market, redefine the man-machine relationship, and find a path to sustainable growth. The end goal is improving people’s lives, leveraging robots and machines despite their formidable and unjustifiably frightful rise, to make the global economy work for everyone.