Nobel Laureate in Economics Joseph Stiglitz opens the season of lectures on inequality at ”la Caixa” Foundation’s Palau Macaya

The Catalunya Europa (Catalonia Europe) Foundation presents the lecture Combatting Inequality: The Great Global Challenge, which will be given by Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics (2001) and Professor at Columbia University, as part of a project jointly organised by ”la Caixa” Foundation's Palau Macaya, the Barcelona Office of the Club of Rome and the Government of Catalonia's Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families.

The Nobel Laureate in Economics will open this season of lectures on inequality by giving his critical and constructive views on the political and economic system today. Stiglitz will focus particularly on the growing tendency for wealth to become concentrated in Europe and, especially, the United States, and on factors that have accelerated the growth in inequality in recent years, such as those linked to globalisation and technology change. This is a process that is causing the emergence of a new global elite, the 1%, which accumulates wealth as jobs become more insecure, the growth potential of the economy as a whole is eroded and liberal democratic systems become weakened.

The lecture will take place at 6 pm this coming Friday, June 2, at ”la Caixa” Foundation's Palau Macaya (108, Passeig de Sant Joan, Barcelona). The event will also be broadcast live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/laCaixaTV and Facebook: www.facebook.com/obrasociallacaixa/. Those interested are also invited to post their comments on Twitter using the hashtag #PalauMacaya

This is the first major lecture in the season Combatting Inequality: The Great Global Challenge, which begins on June 2 and will also include a full programme of activities that will continue until at least the first quarter of 2018, analysing inequality in today's societies from a multidisciplinary approach and featuring contributions from figures and experts of international standing.

The venue chosen for this lecture season is the Palau Macaya. ”la Caixa” Foundation opened this iconic centre for thought and reflection in 2012 with the aim of making the site a world reference in the academic and professional sphere, a forum committed to economic, social and environmental sustainability.