Economists Declare ‘Growth’ a Dead End, Offer New Path to End Poverty

A group of leading economists, including a Nobel laureate, says the world must abandon its focus on economic growth. In a new roadmap, they argue that poverty and inequality are not accidents, but the result of deliberate policy choices. The economists, from institutions such as the United Nations, Oxford University, and the Paris School of Economics, say the current system has failed. Despite record global wealth, roughly one in ten people live in extreme poverty. Millions lack food, housing, or healthcare, while a tiny minority holds vast fortunes. Meanwhile, climate disasters—droughts, fires, floods—show that the planet cannot sustain this model. The authors call these crises “symptoms of an economic model that has reached the end of the road.” Their solution is not more growth, but a redesign of basic rules: how taxes work, how labor markets are regulated, how care and public services are valued. They insist that if governments can create poverty through bad policies, they can also dismantle it through better ones. The roadmap was shaped by experts from UN agencies to grassroots movements. The authors urge political leaders at all levels to adopt it.