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 rulesetting and promoting good governance the alleged inferior efficiency of government justified the downsizing of assetbased public policy through extensive privatization of public incomegenerating assets as well as the downsizing of incomebased public policy induced by declining tax revenue lower total government revenue went hand in hand with lower expenditure andor higher public debt figure these policies coincided with the growing concentration of incomegenerating assets in private hands weaker redistribution rising income inequality and unsustainable development