Conversation

Poverty is not an intractable problem that requires complex solutions, long timeframes and large increases in production and throughput that conflict with ecological objectives.

The solution is straightforward.

We need to actively plan to shift productive capacities away from capital accumulation and elite consumption in order to focus instead on the goods and services that are necessary to meet human needs and enable decent living for all,

while ensuring universal access through public provisioning systems.

We have framed this work around the concept of human needs, following the recent literature.

However it is important to underscore that this approach is ultimately about far more than just satisfying material requirements for human well-being.

Achieving decent-living for all is critical to enabling broader human capabilities, individual and collective self-realisation, full participation in society and politics and, ultimately, freedom.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292924000493