Macroscope | From climate change to health, global problems need investors to step up

People love to hate governments, and they loathe having to pay taxes. However, from now on, we’ll have to embrace more state intervention and the need for higher taxes or else legislate a more dirigiste system of directing personal savings into investment that isn’t so dependent on markets.

This can be either done preemptively or in response to the next financial crisis. It goes without saying that the former course of action is surely preferable to the trauma that will be experienced in the aftermath of the latter.

Capitalist economies don’t necessarily have to embrace socialism, but they must adopt a more rational, structured approach to meeting the overall financial needs of their societies.

Why are such evolutionary changes – or revolutionary in the event of another crisis – essential? The socioeconomic and security needs of market economies are outpacing the ability of existing systems to provide for them.

Meanwhile, the World Bank is urging member governments to up their health spending to meet the organisation’s goal to “help deliver affordable, quality health services to 1.5 billion people by 2030”. According to the bank’s 2025 Global Monitoring Report, essential health services are out of reach for 4.6 billion people, and 2.1 billion people face financial hardship because of medical expenses.