The Moral Element of the Social Contract

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Conservative intellectual denish makes a case for democracy over charity. He says it's better that we as a society decide through the democratic process. Denish: What should determine who gets the half sandwicha? Maybe what should determine it is, you should be the most needy. And maybe if you get that half sandwich, it comes with a condition, that actually you have to go to job training. So you get the half sandwich, but you have to go into an apprenticeship programme,. so that you can buy your own sandwiches in the future.

Michael Shermer speaks with Nemat Talaat Shafik, Baroness Shafik DBE, known as Minouche Shafik, one of the leading policy experts of our time, about a new and better social contract that recognizes our interdependencies, supports and invests more in each other, and expects more of individuals in return: a rethinking of how we can better support each other to thrive. Shafik avers that no only can every country provide its citizens with the basics to have a decent life and be able to contribute to society, but that we owe each other more than this. A more generous and inclusive society would also share more risks collectively and ask everyone to contribute for as long as they can so that everyone can fulfill their potential.

Shafik is an Egyptian-born British-American economist who served as the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England from August 2014 to February 2017 and has served as the Director of the London School of Economics since September 2017. She served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development from March 2008 to March 2011, when she went on to serve as the Deputy Managing Director of the IMF — International Monetary Fund.