Matthew Lesh, Head of Public Policy at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, commented on Oxfam's latest report Inequality Kills'
Oxfam is once again hating on the rich while backing policies that will do nothing to alleviate the suffering of the world's poor. Inequality doesn't kill, it's the debunked ideas that Oxfam advocates which entrench poverty, disease and destitution.
Some people getting wealthier does not intrinsically mean that anyone else is poorer. People have lost incomes because of a pandemic that locked down much of the world's economy, not because others provided useful products. The lesson is clear: state-intervention that prevents economic activity makes people poorer.
We should not bemoan that some people have gotten richer - by providing products that allowed us to stay connected, delivering essential goods and services throughout the pandemic, as well as life-saving vaccines.
If Oxfam really cared about the poor, the charity would campaign for the best poverty alleviation tools known to human kind: liberal institutions, free trade and free markets. Instead they want to discourage entrepreneurship with punitive taxes and prevent scientists from being rewarded for developing vaccines.
Notes to editors
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TEN RICHEST MEN DOUBLE THEIR FORTUNES IN PANDEMIC, WHILE INCOMES OF 99 PER CENT OF HUMANITY FALL