Why We’re Getting Poorer by Cahal Moran critiques the deep inequalities of the global economy and proposes alternative policies to make things fairer and more sustainable. Unpacking issues from the fallacy of meritocracy, flawed attempts to resolve inflation, unstable global supply chains and the need to ensure high-quality employment for all, the book is a compelling, critical contribution to heterodox economic thought, writes Vamika Goel.
We are living in tumultuous times, with an increase in protection measures, the Russia-Ukraine war, the ongoing genocide by Israel in Gaza, an increase in xenophobia and attacks on immigrants around the world. These events do not occur in isolation, and are symptomatic of the fallout of the economic system that has resulted in soaring inequality, rising unemployment and inflation, exclusionary growth, and precarious working conditions. In Why We’re Getting Poorer, Moran highlights the inconsistencies in the current economic paradigm that have caused these frictions and offers alternative approaches. Moran adopts a heterodox economics approach in line with works of Joseph Stiglitz’s Globalization and Its Discontents (2002), Ha-Joon Chang’s 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism (2010) and Alex M. Thomas’s Macroeconomics: An Introduction (2021).
An unequal economic structure
The book contends that the global economic system is highly unequal, where wealth created by workers is appropriated by capitalists. Moran describes how powerful individuals enjoy excessive political clout and have tweaked laws and regulations in their favour. This has severely undermined the relative bargaining position of workers and has only reinforced further inequality. The number of billionaires rose from 273 (with a wealth of $582 billion) in 1991 to 3,028 (with a wealth of $16.1 trillion) in 2025, and 1,000 of them were added during the last decade. He praises the German economic model that encourages active participation of workers in the management of companies and decision making over pay.
Contrary to commonly-held ideas of meritocracy, a person’s social mobility and earnings are not determined by the efforts they put in. Poverty, engrained biases, inadequate education, stereotypes of decision-makers and social connections all affect their ability to earn and achieve upwards social mobility. In the UK, a worker from a privileged background earns 25 per cent more than those from disadvantaged background. Workers’ wages are determined by social, historical, legal and political forces: essential workers such as healthcare and sanitations workers and cargo drivers who are the backbone of an economy are the worst paid. Moran calls for strengthening the social support system that creates a level playing field for all and enables them to climb the social ladder.
Tackling poverty and ensuring high-quality employment
The fourth chapter highlights the exclusionary nature of growth and the extent of poverty reduction. Moran questions the reliability of the World Bank’s poverty estimates and argues that the poverty reduction from 30 per cent in 1990 to 8.5 per cent in 2024 is overstated. To tackle this, Moran proposes the implementation of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that would ensure a certain direct cash transfer to every household so they are able to meet their basic needs. However, UBI may not be the most effective for all countries, as not all have the finances to implement it. If funding it would require slashing crucial public spending such as on healthcare, food security, and education, it may be counterproductive. UBI may be more beneficial if implemented in addition to the existing state support. Arguably, rather than UBI, every citizen should be assured the dignity of high-quality employment through their country’s constitution.
Since the global economy has become multipolarised, international institutions have been weakened, and their rulings usually are not enforceable.
Moran prescribes a robust system of global governance by strengthening and democratising existing international institutions like the World Bank, the United Nations, World Trade Organization. He argues that the world should be governed by such systems just like any other sovereign nation state. But this recommendation seems contentious since it could result in excessive interference in matters of security, economic and welfare policies of developing countries. Developed countries may promote policies that would benefit themselves but disadvantage developing countries. Since the global economy has become multipolarised, international institutions have been weakened, and their rulings usually are not enforceable. In this scenario, a unified governance system is far-fetched.
In part two of the book, Moran contends that the economy has become dysfunctional in various aspects and sectors: housing, monetary policy, inflation targeting, and global supply chains. He discusses the housing crisis facing almost all countries, with house and land prices, mortgage payments, and debt all rising. He notes the significance of land and location in determining a person’s quality of life. He argues that private ownership of land creates a monopoly and suggest implementing a land tax to redistribute wealth, increase efficiency, and reduce speculation. The book promotes the idea of social housing where the government either builds affordable housing, puts caps on house rent and prices, mandating a proportion of houses to be low-cost, or gives houses for free as done in Finland.
The effects of inflation and unstable global supply chains
In a later chapter, Moran discusses inflation, its causes, consequences, and measures to control it. He probes the reliability of inflation the measure of which seems to underestimate inflation for the poorest. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates that inflation for the poorer section is 0.1 per cent higher than the official statistics. Another estimate pegged this difference at 0.4 per cent. Moran claims the inflation control strategy of increasing interests is ineffective, raising unemployment and disproportionately affecting the poor and vulnerable. He proposes giving subsidies, putting caps on profits and prices, and to increase investment to enhance production capacity as alternatives to raising interest rates.
The expansion of Global Supply Chains has resulted in a concentration of production in few areas. China now produces about 80 per cent of solar panels and about half of printed circuit boards
The book elucidates how global supply chains (GSCs) are exploitative, fragile, unreliable, and lack resilience. He explains how the expansion of GSCs has resulted in a concentration of production in few areas. China now produces about 80 per cent of solar panels and about half of printed circuit boards. TSMC, a Taiwanese corporation manufactures half of global semiconductors. He warns against the expansion of GSCs which are prone to breakdown if there is disruption in any one part of the chain, as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated. Moran advocates for making production systems resilient by ensuring redundancy and compartmentalisation.
Reimagining our economic system
In the book’s third part, Moran calls for reimagining and redesigning the current economic structure. He emphasises the fact that politics, the economy and society are interconnected, and recognition of these interlinkages is essential to start forming solutions. He stresses democratising every facet of the economy. Though these criticisms are valid, the book focuses on the economic paradigms of the USA, UK and other Western economies. References to the East and developing economies mainly serve to provide alternative solutions to the problems faced by the West, or how certain policies adopted by developing countries affect the West. The book does not adequately address how the policies and excessive geopolitical power asserted by Western economies impact the livelihoods, working conditions, and economic policies of developing countries. Overall, the book attempts to assimilate global best practices that deviate from conventional economic understanding to tackle rising inequality and solve the housing crisis, control inflation, and reinforce fragmented supply chains. In so doing, it contributes to enriching the heterodox economic tradition and will interest those who seeking an alternative approach to understanding today’s economic problems.
Note: This review gives the views of the author and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Main image: Emil Kalibradov on unsplash.
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