This shift in public discourse in many countries consecrated the role of private investment as the main driver of economic growth, technological progress and human development and further encouraged a reduced role for government focusing on rule-setting and promoting good governance.16 The alleged inferior efficiency of government justified the downsizing of asset-based public policy through extensive privatization of public income-generating assets17 as well as the downsizing of income-based public policy induced by declining tax revenue. Lower total government revenue went hand in hand with lower expenditure and/or higher public debt (figure 2). These policies coincided with the growing concentration of income-generating assets in private hands,18 weaker redistribution, rising income inequality and unsustainable development.