2026/01/26 星期一

UN Policy Chapter Global Inequality & Life Value Reframing Economic Governance for Human Survival and Civilizational Sustainability

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日期:2026/01/15   IAE 

UN Policy Chapter

Global Inequality & Life Value

Reframing Economic Governance for Human Survival and Civilizational Sustainability  

UN Policy Chapter（Global Inequality & Life Value）正式定稿版。
語體與結構已對齊 UN Policy Paper / UNDP / DESA / High-Level Panel 常用格式，可直接納入：

  • UN 政策白皮書（Policy Chapter）

  • 高階原則簡報（Principals Brief 延伸章）

  • 全球不平等、永續發展與治理改革之正式文件

  • ✔ Directly usable in UN Policy Papers and Think Tank Reports

  • ✔ Compatible with SDGs and global inequality data

  • ✔ Fully aligned with Charity Economicism and Life Value theory

1. Executive Context: Global Inequality as a Civilizational Risk

Global inequality has reached a level that now constitutes a systemic risk to human civilization, social stability, and long-term sustainable development.

According to global assessments by Oxfam, recent years have shown that:

  • More than 80% of newly generated global wealth has been captured by the top 1% of the population.

  • The bottom 50% of humanity (approximately 3.7 billion people) has experienced virtually no real wealth growth.

This trend indicates that economic growth, under current governance frameworks, no longer translates into improved life conditions for the majority of the global population.

2. Structural Diagnosis: Inequality Is Not an Accident

This chapter adopts the position that global inequality is not a policy failure, but a structural outcome of prevailing economic governance models.

Under self-interest-driven capitalism:

  • Price efficiency and capital return are prioritized over life, health, and dignity.

  • Social, environmental, and intergenerational life costs are systematically externalized.

  • Wealth accumulation accelerates at the top while life security stagnates below.

As a result, inequality is produced by design, not by coincidence.

3. From Economic Growth to Life Value Governance

This chapter proposes a fundamental reframing:

The ultimate purpose of economic governance must shift
from maximizing capital returns
to maximizing life value.

Life Value refers to the integrated capacity of individuals and societies to sustain:

  • Survival

  • Health

  • Dignity

  • Opportunity

  • Intergenerational continuity

Economic systems that fail to protect these dimensions cannot be considered development-oriented, regardless of GDP performance.

4. Life Value as a Policy Standard

Life Value functions as a normative and operational benchmark for economic governance.

A governance system aligned with Life Value must be evaluated on its ability to:

  • Improve the survival and well-being of at least the bottom 50% of the population

  • Prevent avoidable loss of life, health, and opportunity

  • Reduce structural inequality rather than compensate for it after the fact

When half of humanity is excluded from meaningful progress, the system has lost its civilizational legitimacy.

5. The Ten-Dimension Life Value Framework

This chapter adopts the Ten-Dimension Life Value Civilization Framework as a policy-relevant governance reference:

  1. Fundamental rights to life survival and mental-spiritual balance

  2. Equal and non-deferrable access to education

  3. Institutionalized charity-based economic systems

  4. Rights, freedoms, and opportunities within charitable economies

  5. Preventive and planned social welfare systems

  6. Sustainable green planetary development

  7. Balance between technological innovation and humanism

  8. Global peace and conflict prevention

  9. Trans-generational and trans-boundary responsibility for compassion and peace

  10. Shared global civilization rooted in compassion and wisdom

These dimensions constitute structural criteria, not aspirational ideals.

6. Policy Implications for Global Inequality

Reframing inequality through Life Value governance implies:

  • Internalizing life, health, and environmental costs into economic decision-making

  • Prioritizing preventive investment over post-crisis compensation

  • Designing fiscal and regulatory systems that structurally reduce inequality

  • Measuring progress through life-centered indicators rather than wealth concentration metrics alone

This approach moves beyond redistribution toward systemic correction.

7. Why Existing Models Are Insufficient

As Albert Einstein famously stated:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Current inequality is the result of legacy economic thinking.
Attempting to resolve it without changing the underlying logic will perpetuate the crisis.

Life Value governance represents a necessary evolution, not an ideological alternative.

8. Alignment with UN Mandates and SDGs

Life Value–based economic governance directly supports:

  • SDG 1: No Poverty

  • SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

  • SDG 4: Quality Education

  • SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

  • SDG 13: Climate Action

  • SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

It provides a coherent governance logic connecting these goals under a single civilizational framework.

9. Conclusion: Inequality Is a Choice, Not a Destiny

This chapter concludes with a clear policy position:

Global inequality is not inevitable.
It is the result of economic governance choices.

If governance continues to prioritize price over life and capital over dignity, inequality will deepen.

If governance shifts toward Life Value as its core principle, a civilizational transition becomes possible.

Civilizational Policy Statement

An economic system that fails to improve the life conditions
of at least half of humanity
has exceeded its moral and civilizational limits.