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Political Economy Research Institute

G20 Global Inequality Report

Joseph Stiglitz, Jayati Ghosh, Adriana Abdenur, Winnie Byanyima, Imraan Valodia and Wanga Zembe-Mkabile

PERI researcher Jayati Ghosh, project director Joseph Stiglitz, Winnie Byanyima and co-authors provide new perspectives of the state of inequality both within countries and internationally. They report, for example, that 83% of all countries, accounting for 90% of the world’s population, meet the World Bank’s definition of high inequality. Countries with high inequality are seven times more likely to experience democratic decline than more equal countries. Its policy proposals include raising taxes on multinationals and the ultra-wealthy, pro-worker measures to boost wages, reining in corporate concentration, and investing in universal public goods, like healthcare and education.

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G20 report

Ranking the Largest U.S. Polluting Companies

The 2025 edition of Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index, produced by PERI researchers Michael Ash and James Boyce along with Rich Puchalsky, ranks companies by their direct emissions of greenhouse gases from U.S.-based facilities. The three largest polluters—Vistra Energy, Southern Company, and Duke Energy—each released more than 70 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent as of the most recent 2023 data. The other seven of the 10 most heavily polluting firms include Energy Capital Partners, Berkshire Hathaway, American Electric Power, ExxonMobil, the U.S. government, NextEra Energy, and Xcel Energy.

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greenhouse gas photo

Distribution of Power in Global Value Chains

James Heintz and William Milberg

PERI researcher James Heintz and William Milberg address the question of how value is distributed within global value chains (GVCs). They focus on the issue of power in both product markets and supplier markets. In their model, lead firms capture a larger share of value-added, either through higher mark-ups – monopoly power – or lower unit costs goods purchased from suppliers – monopsony power. Maintaining or expanding this market power involves costly investments in intangible assets, with the nature of that investment depending on the characteristics of the GVC. Their model is inspired by the unequal exchange tradition.

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global network photo

Creating African Buffer Stocks for Inflation Control and Sustainability

Isabella Weber, Jayati Ghosh, Sophie van Huellen, Merle Schulken and Sudeep Jain

PERI researchers Isabella Weber and Jayati Ghosh and coauthors explain how price volatility is affected by emergencies including climate change, armed conflicts, and trade wars. Buffer stocks can stabilize food prices and contribute towards long-term goals such as food sovereignty and sustainable farming. They propose a regional African food reserve comprising regionally grown and imported grain, to stabilize prices over time and across locations as well as to incentivize more sustainable food cultivation. They also propose global reserves to stabilize the prices of globally traded commodities and support regional reserves.

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grain photo

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