sustainability Article Addressing Inequality: The First Step Beyond COVID-19 and Towards Sustainability Nicholas A. Ashford 1,*, Ralph P. Hall 2 , Johan Arango-Quiroga 3, Kyriakos A. Metaxas 4 and Amy L. Showalter 2 1 Technology and Law Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 2 School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA;
[email protected] (R.P.H.);
[email protected] (A.L.S.) 3 Sustainability Program, Harvard University, Extension School, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA;
[email protected] 4 Sloan School of Management, Sloan MBA Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;
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[email protected] Received: 28 April 2020; Accepted: 26 June 2020; Published: 3 July 2020 Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted billions of lives across the world and has revealed and worsened the social and economic inequalities that have emerged over the past several decades. As governments consider public health and economic strategies to respond to the crisis, it is critical they also address the weaknesses of their economic and social systems that inhibited their ability to respond comprehensively to the pandemic. These same weaknesses have also undermined efforts to advance equality and sustainability. This paper explores over 30 interventions across the following nine categories of change that hold the potential to address inequality, provide all citizens with access to essential goods and services, and advance