What We Owe Each Other

Nemat (Minouche) Shafik is the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Born in Egypt, she emigrated as a child to the USA, later moving to the UK for post-graduate studies in economics. At 36, she became the youngest ever Vice President of the World Bank and has since held positions as Permanent Secretary of the UK's Department for International Development, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. In these roles she has worked on major policy upheavals across the globe, from the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the Arab Spring, to the financial crash in 2008 and the Eurozone crisis. Following her appointment as Director of the LSE in 2017, she launched a programme of research, 'Beveridge 2.0', to rethink the welfare state for the 21st century. She was made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2015 and in 2020 was appointed a cross-bench peer in the House of Lords.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 FT / McKinsey BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

One of the world's most influential economists sets out the basis for a new social contract fit for the 21st century.

'Excellent... Shafik points us toward...a hopeful framework for social, economic and political renewal' Michael J. Sandel

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What does society owe each of us? And what do we owe in return?

Our answer to these inescapable questions - known as the social contract - shapes our politics, economic systems and every stage of life, from raising children and going to school to finding work and growing old. Yet today, many believe that this contract is not working for them.

Economist Minouche Shafik examines societies across the world and demonstrates that the urgent challenges of technology, demography and climate require a major shift in priorities. This vision-changing book shows us the way to a new model that provides mutual security and opportunity - a social contract fit for the twenty-first century.

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'Intelligent and lucid' Martin Wolf, Financial Times

'A powerful and persuasive moral argument...rigorous and specific enough to help readers think practically about the policies needed' Melinda Gates

'A necessary contribution at a turning-point in history... A must-read' Ursula von der Leyen

A PROSPECT MAGAZINE BEST BOOK OF 2021

A persuasive diagnosis of the present social malaise [with] plenty of suggestions about what policymakers could do ... ranges widely ... impressiveA big argument, eloquently written ... eye-catching individual ideas ... entertaining tales ... courageously breaks from the orthodoxies of the pre-crash yearsShafik is an insider, turned radical ... In this intelligent and lucid book, she calls for a new social contract based on three principles: security for all; investment in capability; and efficient and fair sharing of risksA very thoughtful bookWonderfully illuminating of our interdependence