The World Economic Forum in Davos: Poverty and Inequality of Income Distribution as Evil Phenomena of Modern World Development

Abstract

The subject of the research is the opinions of the expert community expressed during panel discussions at the World Economic Forum held in Davos in 2019 related to ways of eliminating poverty and disproportionality of income distribution in the world. The purpose of the research was to confirm the permanent commitment of the WEF expert community to the concept of neoliberalism, despite the fact that it was neoliberal values that exacerbated the development of poverty and disproportionality in income distribution as trends in the current global development. The research also proved the utopian nature of their recommendations for overcoming the negative phenomena. The position of the expert community at the World Economic Forum was reduced solely to the concept of the neoliberal mainstream — reducing the role of state regulation, establishment of global governance for a multilateral social contract at the level of an international organization capable of eliminating social inequality and income disproportionality in the world economy. Particular attention was paid to the lack of social elevators in developed and developing countries contributing to the poverty aggravation among the population. The documents of some international organizations indicate the need to intensify national state policies in the field of social support and social security. The paper discusses various aspects of national state policies in a number of countries aiming to gradually smooth out the level of social security of citizens along with supporting the middle class as the basis for stable development. For the first time, the problem of enhancing the role of non-profit public organizations in overcoming the income disproportionality and eliminating extreme poverty and destitution, especially in developing countries, was addressed at the level of interstate discussion. However, involving the poor in the work of these organizations seems to be challenging because the sources for funding their activities are not defined. It is concluded that globalization is the determining trend in the development of the world economy; the basic problems of globalization include poverty and disproportionality of income distribution both at the inter- and intracountry levels; there is a possibility of concluding a public multilateral agreement accumulating measures taken at the supranational level. The living conditions of the middle class are deteriorating, their incomes are decreasing. The USA policy “Make America great again” is aimed at raising the living standards of the middle class, i.e. the idea of the problem solution on the multinational basis is being rejected; the access to education, formation of social elevators, including those for young people, establishment of social protection systems, etc. are still beyond the attention of national governments in developed countries.