Inclusive growth (finally) hits the global stage

After two years of Zoom meetings, the United Nations General Assembly came back to a jam-packed and mostly sunny New York City this week. Leaders from around the world flocked the Big Apple to discuss a wide set of global issues: from the war in Ukraine to the climate emergency, from rising poverty to recent setbacks in the protection of basic human rights.

?We face a perfect storm of cascading crises. From the COVID-19 pandemic, to continuing supply chain disruptions and devastating rises in the cost of living, to the climate emergency [...] from worsening inequalities to rising social unrest.

-U.N. Secretary General, António Guterres

The tone—both inside the heavily-guarded U.N. compound, and in the countless private meetings, side conferences and social events—was generally grim. Still, one of the more optimistic takeaways from my week there was how much of the conversation coalesced around the need to build a more equitable and inclusive economy for all.

For many decades, widening economic inequities—measured by increasing wage, income and wealth gaps—had flown mostly under the radar of international policy discussions. It was deemed as a topic of national interest, if discussed at all. This started to change in 2015, when the international community added the objective of "reducing inequality within and among countries" to the list of sustainable development goals.

Today, google searches for the terms "inclusive growth" and "shared prosperity" are at all-time highs. While this internet traffic previously originated from mostly Western and developed countries, interest has gravitated to the emerging world. Countries like Zambia, the Philippines, and India now lead the charts.

Academic research and scholarship on potential solutions to mounting inequality has also exploded in the last decade. That means we now know significantly more about the true drivers of the different divides we face in our societies: digital, gender, racial, financial inclusion, and economic opportunity gaps that leave people feeling disconnected, and weaken future growth prospects.

Throughout the week, some of the most influential stakeholder engagement platforms, including the Clinton Global Initiative, WEF and the Earthshot Prize, held sessions and summits that touched on different aspects of economic inclusion. Our own Center used these events to introduce Strive USA, an innovative program that aims to support small businesses and the people who lead them in our communities and our economy.

In the main stage of the General Assembly we heard the leaders of Norway, Chile, and the G77—a coalition of 134 developing countries—highlight the urgent actions required to tackle inequality. The meeting also surfaced a set of new policy responses and initiatives from around the globe, as some of the largest economies have set equity and inclusion targets over the past few years.

In the United States, the Build Back Better agenda has placed a huge emphasis on advancing racial equity and addressing geographic (or place-based) inequalities. The Biden administration has since deployed multi-trillion dollar fiscal packages that lower education and healthcare costs, extend child tax credits, and target infrastructure projects to places that had been left behind.

Other parts of the world seem to be moving in the same direction. From the United Kingdom's Levelling Up Policy, which attempts to reduce economic imbalances between the North and South, to France's so called "purchasing power package," there are many new examples of policy experimentation to achieve the goal of inclusive economic growth.

Even China, with their Common Prosperity Policy, has focused on reducing wealth inequality and increasing redistribution, raising wages for low-income groups and balancing regional development across cities and more rural areas to bridge the rural-urban divide.

So, after hearing so many public, private and social sector leaders commit to accelerating inclusive economic growth and building pathways to shared prosperity last week, how can we take advantage of this moment?

First, we need to keep learning. There is still a lot we don’t know about how to tackle many parts of the inequality puzzle. For example, we need to understand how to better support low-income and low-skilled workers, which is why we are supporting innovative research initiatives like WorkRise, a research-to-action network on jobs, workers, and mobility. We also need to focus on last-mile delivery models, as uncovered by our research partners from the Reach Alliance, that help us get important "stuff" to everyone, everywhere.

Second, we need to scale tested solutions for inclusive growth, generally through multi-sector collaboration that can further economic inclusion and opportunity. As an example, Mastercard recently joined the Economic Opportunity Coalition (EOC), led by Vice President Harris, which is devoted to taking action to close the wealth and opportunity gaps in the United States.

We must think bigger and bolder, but also for the longer term. We know that investment in equitable development today is far more cost effective than dealing with the consequences of our failure to invest during the decades ahead.

-Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation

Finally, we need shared frameworks and blueprints for inclusive growth, that can help others along in this journey. This year we are taking Built for All, our global framework for building inclusive economies, to the next level: tackling questions around measurement, strengthening our evidence-base through case studies, teaching it in the classrooms, and testing it with practitioners on the ground.

As we double-down on our mission to "build an economy that works for everyone" at the Center for Inclusive Growth, I'm eager to see what this heightened awareness to one of the most challenging issues of our time will bring.

(with contributions from Mycala Gill, Senior Analyst, Center for Inclusive Growth)