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Trust in Markets and Antitrust in Media

Oligarchs routinely use media ownership to solidify their political positions, which they can then use to secure rents from which they can fund media. That is why ownership should be transparent, with, ideally, media owners prohibited from owning other assets.

LONDON – This year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos came at a moment of puzzlement for the world’s economic and financial elites. Although the global economy has lately been doing rather well, voters have been rebelling against them.

Despite much-publicized challenges and weak points, there has been plenty of good economic news in recent years. Globalization and technological progress have supported annual global per capita GDP growth of 2.5% since 2009 – lower than before the Great Recession, but still very high by historical standards. In the last 35 years, the share of the world’s population living in poverty has fallen from 40% to just 10%.

Perhaps the biggest grievance of the past year has been inequality. But, at the global level, inequality is falling. And while inequality has risen within some advanced economies, the increase has not been particularly dramatic, and it remains at reasonable levels.

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