The Oxfam report is not without its critics. Key among them are those who argue that Oxfam downplays the success of capitalism in lifting billions of people out of extreme poverty. "Oxfam have, again, come up with a gross misrepresentation of world poverty which fails to line up with everything else we know about human advancement and income improvements," said the Institute of Economic Affairs, a right-leaning British think tank, in response to the 2018 report.

O'Brien strongly denied the charge, saying Oxfam is not opposed to well-regulated markets that give people opportunity. "What we're opposed to is distorted markets denying people basic services and giving others disproportionate power to determine the wellbeing of literally millions of people because their wealth and incomes aren't being taxed properly."

Jason Hickel, anthropologist and author of The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and Its Solutions, told HuffPost we should reject the idea that if we care about the poor we must embrace capitalism. He argued that the poverty threshold, $1.90 a day, according to the World Bank definition, is far too little to meet basic needs. A better measure of what people need for decent nutrition and a normal human life expectancy, he said, would be around $7.40 a day. Using this figure, he added, "we see that the number of poor has increased dramatically since 1980, and today stands at about 4.2 billion people."

Another concern is the impact of this data. Oxfam has been putting out variations on these bleak stats every year since 2013 ― Hickel refers to them as "almost too extreme to wrap one's mind around" ― and yet little seems to change.

"Just producing data doesn't necessarily change people's proclivity to do anything about it," Alice Evans, a lecturer in the social science of development at London School of Economics, told HuffPost. In fact, it can make people despondent and apathetic, she said. What really matters is "whether we think we can do anything about it, and that's not changed just by producing data."

Social change accelerates when people see others acting and believe change is happening, Evans said.

This change is happening, according to Katherine Trebeck of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll). She has been working with the governments of Scotland, Iceland and New Zealand to design policies that go beyond traditional economic indicators of success. This year, New Zealand's budget has a focus on policies aimed at citizens' well-being as well as the environment.

Trebeck admits these kinds of projects are isolated and often disconnected. "They are going against the grain," she said, "and hence they're vulnerable and fragile because the larger system is still not geared up to support them." But she hopes they will serve as inspirations to those who want to build a new economy.

With the rise of populist, right-wing governments across the world ― from the U.S. and Brazil to Poland and Italy – the political will to make these kinds of changes may seem lacking. But Oxfam's O'Brien still believes momentum is there for building a new economy.

He pointed to the U.S., where there is a rise in popularity for progressive ideas. "It's not just about the rise of the left," he says, "it's about the rise of a different kind of politics, which is more about asking the question: Is this economy working for everybody?"

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