{
  "id": 1651134,
  "title": "Top economists urge Burnham to sign UK up to UN initiative on global inequality",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/top-economists-urge-burnham-to-sign-uk-up-to-un-initiative-on-global",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-18T04:00:15.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2026/aug/18/economists-andy-burnham-uk-un-initiative-global-international-panel-inequality"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Forty leading academics, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, have penned an open letter urging Burnham's government to join the International Panel on Inequality (IPI) initiative at the UN. The panel aims to create an independent global evidence base on inequality and recommend policies to reduce it. While Burnham's policy agenda, the Makerfield test, focuses on domestic fairness, the academics argue that inequality is a global problem exacerbated by geopolitical instability. They believe that backing the IPI would strengthen Labour's global leadership on development, particularly as the UK will chair the G20 in 2027. The proposed panel, chaired by Stiglitz, would track extreme wealth disparities and propose global policy solutions, similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's approach.",
  "summary": "Open letter signed by 40 academics including Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz and Kate Pickett, co-author of The Spirit Level Forty prominent progressive academics are urging Andy Burnham’s government to join a new global push to tackle inequality. The experts include Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz , University College London professor Mariana Mazzucato, vice-chancellor of the London School of…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}