Book Review: A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment and Zero Net Carbon Emissions

The decline of communism and the subsequent rise of capitalism changed the global discourse. The period from 1980s to mid-2000s witnessed faster economic growth, sharp decline in poverty and some remarkable progress on key human development indicators. Globalization played a pivotal role in the easy movement of capital, human resource and technology. While, there are numerous positives to this growth, but the fruits of this growth were not enjoyed by everyone. Millions of individuals across the globe, continue to remain in abject poverty. The rich continue to become richer, while poor continue to strive to make a living. According to Oxfam, the richest eight individuals hold as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of the population or over 3.6 billion people (Mullany, 2017). The gulf between the haves and the have-nots is widening, and that too at an alarming rate. The past decade has seen the wealth of the top individuals multiplying at a faster clip, whereas those at lower levels of the economic hierarchy, continue to struggle, especially since the US sub-prime crisis.