As the World Economic Forum's annual meeting convenes in Davos, critics argue that the global elite is ignoring the elephant in the room: neoliberal capitalism itself. While discussions focus on risks like misinformation and climate change, the underlying system driving inequality and democratic erosion remains unaddressed.
The WEF's 2026 Global Risks Report lists income and wealth inequality as the seventh most pressing risk, but frames it narrowly as a matter of citizen perception and social mobility. Ingrid Robeyns, author of 'Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth,' contends that this misses the fundamental issue: the distribution of collectively produced wealth under neoliberal capitalism.
Neoliberal capitalism, dominant since the late 1970s, features privatisation, reduced taxes on the wealthy, and a power shift from workers to capital owners. This has concentrated wealth among billionaires and centimillionaires, while eroding democracy and increasing social, ecological, and political damage. Robeyns argues that without a system-level critique, the root cause of other global risks will remain untouched.
Historical evidence suggests that extreme wealth concentration is tolerated only when the rich aid society in crises—a trend now reversed. As long as Davos avoids questioning the merits of neoliberal capitalism, the world's key problems cannot be solved, she concludes.
