Market and margins

de Wanda Deifelt

No generation before ours has witnessed as much social and economic inequality, with a widening gap between those who can afford luxurious life styles and those who barely survive. While a market-based economy allows some to prosper, it also has adverse effects, leaving many at the margins and lacking what they need for subsistence. Can a market economy assure that, through competition, more people will be economic players? Or does a market ruled by the price of commodities lead to the commodification of life itself? Can a global economic order, often guided by greed, be transformed to provide sustainable livelihood for all?