abstract: 'The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted billions of lives across the world

  and has revealed and worsened the social and economic inequalities that

  have emerged over the past several decades. As governments consider

  public health and economic strategies to respond to the crisis, it is

  critical they also address the weaknesses of their economic and social

  systems that inhibited their ability to respond comprehensively to the

  pandemic. These same weaknesses have also undermined efforts to advance

  equality and sustainability. This paper explores over 30 interventions

  across the following nine categories of change that hold the potential

  to address inequality, provide all citizens with access to essential

  goods and services, and advance progress towards sustainability: (1)

  Income and wealth transfers to facilitate an equitable increase in

  purchasing power/disposable income; (2) broadening worker and citizen

  ownership of the means of production and supply of services, allowing

  corporate profit-taking to be more equitably distributed; (3) changes in

  the supply of essential goods and services for more citizens; (4)

  changes in the demand for more sustainable goods and services desired by

  people; (5) stabilizing and securing employment and the workforce; (6)

  reducing the disproportionate power of corporations and the very wealthy

  on the market and political system through the expansion and enforcement

  of antitrust law such that the dominance of a few firms in critical

  sectors no longer prevails; (7) government provision of essential goods

  and services such as education, healthcare, housing, food, and mobility;

  (8) a reallocation of government spending between military operations

  and domestic social needs; and (9) suspending or restructuring debt from

  emerging and developing countries. Any interventions that focus on

  growing the economy must also be accompanied by those that offset the

  resulting compromises to health, safety, and the environment from

  increasing unsustainable consumption. This paper compares and identifies

  the interventions that should be considered as an important foundational

  first step in moving beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and towards

  sustainability. In this regard, it provides a comprehensive set of

  strategies that could advance progress towards a component of

  Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 to reduce inequality within

  countries. However, the candidate interventions are also contrasted with

  all 17 SDGs to reveal potential problem areas/tradeoffs that may need

  careful attention.'
affiliation: 'Ashford, NA (Corresponding Author), MIT, Technol \& Law Program, 77
  Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA.

  Ashford, Nicholas A., MIT, Technol \& Law Program, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge,
  MA 02139 USA.

  Hall, Ralph P.; Showalter, Amy L., Virginia Tech, Sch Publ \& Int Affairs, Blacksburg,
  VA 24061 USA.

  Arango-Quiroga, Johan, Harvard Univ, Sustainabil Program, Extens Sch, Cambridge,
  MA 02138 USA.

  Metaxas, Kyriakos A., MIT, Sloan Sch Management, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge,
  MA 02139 USA.'
article-number: '5404'
author: Ashford, Nicholas A. and Hall, Ralph P. and Arango-Quiroga, Johan and Metaxas,
  Kyriakos A. and Showalter, Amy L.
author-email: 'nashford@mit.edu

  rphall@vt.edu

  johanarangoquiroga@alumni.harvard.edu

  kmetaxas@sloan.mit.edu

  amyls@vt.edu'
author_list:
- family: Ashford
  given: Nicholas A.
- family: Hall
  given: Ralph P.
- family: Arango-Quiroga
  given: Johan
- family: Metaxas
  given: Kyriakos A.
- family: Showalter
  given: Amy L.
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.3390/su12135404
eissn: 2071-1050
files: []
journal: SUSTAINABILITY
keywords: 'COVID-19; earning capacity; environment; essential goods and services;

  future of work; inequality; labor; safety net; universal basic income;

  sustainable development goals (SDGs); sustainability'
keywords-plus: DEVELOPMENT GOALS; MINIMUM-WAGE; TECHNOLOGY; CAPITALISM; FALL
language: English
month: JUL
number: '13'
number-of-cited-references: '158'
orcid-numbers: 'Hall, Ralph/0000-0003-4788-0976

  Ashford, Nicholas/0000-0003-3572-268X

  Arango-Quiroga, Johan/0000-0001-7821-2335'
papis_id: 45c252f45d21b8790c7c7288b13fc532
ref: Ashford2020addressinginequality
researcherid-numbers: 'Hall, Ralph/AAA-6491-2021

  '
times-cited: '41'
title: 'Addressing Inequality: The First Step Beyond COVID-19 and Towards Sustainability'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000550209700001
usage-count-last-180-days: '3'
usage-count-since-2013: '66'
volume: '12'
web-of-science-categories: 'Green \& Sustainable Science \& Technology; Environmental
  Sciences;

  Environmental Studies'
year: '2020'