Inequality and Gresham's Law: Does the bad drive out the good?

Jan Vandemoortele, former Director of the UNDP Poverty Group and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator to Pakistan, presented his paper on "Inequality and Gresham's Law: Does the bad drive out the good?" in an open forum organized by DPAD/DESA today. Using a combination of research and philosophy, Vandemoortele makes a compelling case that "bad inequalities drive out good inequalities in that high inequalities of outcomes make equality of opportunity virtually impossible". He concluded by suggesting that the objective of decreasing inequalities should be reflected in the post 2015 UN development agenda and he reflected on various ways in which it could be formulated: as a goal in its own right; through the formulation of targets; or by adjusting monitoring indicators to reflect inequalities.

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• Presentation