Global resources dividend

The global resources dividend (GRD) is a method of tackling global poverty advanced from 1994 onwards by the philosopher Thomas Pogge. He presents it as an alternative to the current global economic order. Under the scheme, nations would pay a dividend (tax) on any resources that they use or sell, resulting in a sort of "tax on consumption". Pogge's scheme is motivated by the positive duty to alleviate poverty, but relies especially on his view that the rich have a negative duty not to use institutions that perpetuate economic inequality. Pogge estimates that a dividend of just 1% could raise $300 billion each year; this would equal $250 for each individual in the world's poorest quintile.

Implementing some versions of the GRD entails not only discussions about practicality, but presumably, an affirmation of what is right. As Pogge puts it "Our task as philosophers requires that we try to imagine new, better political structures and different, better moral sentiments. We must be realistic, but not to the point of presenting to the parties in the original position the essentials of the status quo as unalterable facts."

Rights of the disadvantaged

Pogge's main justification is that, even if the idea of GRD would be refined over time, and would be difficult to implement, it is nevertheless the right of those who are the worst off. The 1% dividend tax is not seen as a donation, but a responsibility.

Pogge believes that the idea of the GRD may be a natural extension of John Rawls' theory of justice, although Rawls himself disagreed with this interpretation.