Prof G Markets · Friday, August 14, 2026
Economist Gabriel Zucman describes the global competition among countries to attract profits and wealthy individuals as a 'negative sum' game. He explains that this race to the bottom on tax rates and incentives, while seeming like a way to attract business, primarily benefits multinational corporations and rich individuals at the expense of overall economic fairness and growth.
“And that's a powerful inequality engine because this form of international competition is inherently negative sum.”
“It's not growing the pie, it's not growing the world economy, it's just trying to steal a bit of money from other countries.”
“It's negative sum because the main beneficiaries of that process are multinationals and rich people.”