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Experts and country representatives gathered for the World Economic Forum in 2017 to discuss the middle-class crisis. There are many reasons for the narrowing middle class in the world economy. Harvard professor Lawrence Summers explained that governments are focusing their attention on the poorer segments of the population, including immigrants.
As a result, the middle classes are feeling disenfranchised because they have a sense that the government is simply not looking out for them. “It’s a mistake not to recognize that the middle class in my country and in others is also concerned that the government isn’t fighting for it,” he adds. It may also have to do with the driving populism that’s been seen across developed countries in recent years.
Jim Tankersley, the author of “The Riches Of This Land,” explains that strong middle classes breed political and social stability. According to him, a 2019 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development concludes, citing several studies, that ‘societies with a strong middle-class experience higher levels of social trust but also better educational outcomes, lower crime incidence, better health outcomes and higher life satisfaction.’
