Driving Force: The rise of the individual and the middle class (Jose Luis)

Description:

Advances in global education and technology have helped empower individuals like never before, leading to increased demands for transparency and participation in government and public decision-making. These changes will continue, and are ushering in a new era in human history in which more people will be middle class than poor.

Enablers:

• Demographic boom in developing regions
• Technological advances in agricultural productivity
• Access to information through mobile phones, internet penetration and social media
• Rising income inequality

Inhibitors:

• Economic depression
• Diminishing purchasing power/disposable income
• Pandemics
• Populism

Paradigms:

Women in leadership increase revenues and profitability. Women in the workforce have contributed to more than 25% of overall growth in GDP.

Experts:

• United Nations (UN) - https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals
• World Health Organization (WHO) - https://www.who.int/
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) - https://unece.org
• Melinda Gates - https://www.gatesfoundation.org/

Web Resources:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/5-charts-which-show-what-is-happening-to-the-middle-class-around-the-world/ https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/689afed1-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/689afed1-en https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trend/archive/summer-2016/how-a-growing-global-middle-class-could-save-the-worlds-economy https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2014/02/future-state-2030-v3.pdf