Overview

From one of the leading policy experts of our time, an urgent rethinking of how we can better support each other to thrive Whether we realize it or not, all of us participate in the social contract every day through mutual obligations among our family, community, place of work, and fellow citizens. Caring for others, paying taxes, and benefiting from public services define the social contract that supports and binds us together as a society. Today, however, our social contract has been broken by changing gender roles, technology, new models of work, aging, and the perils of climate change. Minouche Shafik takes us through stages of life we all experience—raising children, getting educated, falling ill, working, growing old—and shows how a reordering of our societies is possible. Drawing on evidence and examples from around the world, she shows how every country can provide citizens with the basics to have a decent life and be able to contribute to society. But we owe each other more than this. A more generous and inclusive society would also share more risks collectively and ask everyone to contribute for as long as they can so that everyone can fulfill their potential. What We Owe Each Other identifies the key elements of a better social contract that recognizes our interdependencies, supports and invests more in each other, and expects more of individuals in return. Powerful, hopeful, and thought-provoking, What We Owe Each Other provides practical solutions to current challenges and demonstrates how we can build a better society—together.

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An appeal to use the occasion of the pandemic to recast our view of rights and obligations. . . . A welcome update of Rousseau-vian ideals of duty, responsibility, and reciprocity. * Kirkus Reviews *

Offer[s] a persuasive diagnosis of the present social malaise and offer[s] plenty of suggestions about what policymakers could do. ---Diane Coyle, Financial Times An appeal to use the occasion of the pandemic to recast our view of rights and obligations. . . . A welcome update of Rousseau-vian ideals of duty, responsibility, and reciprocity. * Kirkus Reviews * What We Owe Each Other is data-driven, immensely informative, insightful, and provocative. ---Glenn C. Altschuler, Psychology Today In her new book What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract, Minouche Shafik reviews where we stand, and quotes Yeats: 'surely some revelation is at hand.' The revelation required is that of an inextricably interlinked society. ---Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, Prospect

Author Information

Minouche Shafik is former president of Columbia University. She was Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Vice President of the World Bank, Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

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