More than 1,500 academics and economists from over 100 countries have signed an open letter urging global leaders to support the International Panel on Inequality (IPI), a new initiative being proposed ahead of next week's UN general assembly. The signatories, including Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz and former US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, argue that extreme inequality is "a policy choice that can be reversed" and warn that wealth and income gaps are creating undemocratic concentrations of power that threaten social trust and political stability.

The IPI, supported by Spain, South Africa, Brazil and Norway and championed by UN Secretary General António Guterres, will mirror the International Panel on Climate Change in structure and purpose—bringing together leading experts, governments and multilateral institutions to establish scientific consensus on inequality and recommend policy solutions. Whilst former leaders including Germany's Olaf Scholz and New Zealand's Helen Clark have publicly backed the initiative, the UK government has not yet committed, though Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has signalled willingness to participate; the US under Donald Trump remains reluctant to join such multilateral efforts.