The Way Out

The cycle is not inevitable

The Inheritance Trap is not inevitable. But breaking it requires more than responding once debt has become unsustainable or rebuilding after climate shocks have already caused damage. Action is needed at different points in the cycle: in how obligations are created, how future liabilities are prevented, how existing debt burdens are managed, what borrowing delivers, whether fiscal gains reach children, and how success is measured.

The seven disruptors below address these different pressure points. Together, they apply a principle of intergenerational fiscal equity: decisions taken today should consider not only the liabilities passed forward, but also the public, human and environmental value created for the children and future taxpayers who may ultimately bear their costs.