REMARC UniPi

The paper “Why multinational enterprises may be causing more inequality than we think” got the Highly Commended Paper in the 2020 Emerald Literati Awards

Why would multinational enterprises (MNEs) contribute to increasing inequality? While acknowledging that there is, currently, great uncertainty about whether MNEs do, on average, cause growing economic inequality as they expand their operations worldwide, I will try to develop two arguments here. First, I will argue that MNEs’ operations may engender the retrogression of human rights enjoyed by a wide set of constituents, which represents one, often overlooked, form of increasing inequality. Second, that by infringing the rights of others, MNEs may end up profusely rewarding a few individuals – e.g. chief executive officers (CEOs), board members and shareholders – who might experience abnormal accumulation of wealth and income, exacerbating inequality further.