Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian and author who studies poverty and global inequality, had a first this year: being invited to the world’s most prominent gathering of wealthy people — the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland — as a speaker.

But after arriving in Davos, the small town in the Swiss Alps where the conference is held, the 30-year-old felt there was something missing from the conversations he had been having over the course of the week.

“I had this uncomfortable feeling,” he said in a phone interview. “Could I really talk about my book and basic income but not address the elephant in the room?”