Week 1: What is inclusive growth and why does it matter?
Introduction
Welcome to Week 1 of the course. Over the past decade, ‘inclusive growth’ is a term that has fast become a buzzword among economists and development communities. Large multilateral agencies like the World Bank and UN have been producing a multiude of briefings and reports calling for economies and growth globally to be more inclusive.
If growth needs to be more inclusionary, then there is an inherent assumption that something has been wrong with the growth trends up until now – that they have been exclusionary in some way. In the opening week, you will look at some of the key arguments and debates around the rise of this popular concept by asking: what is inclusive growth and why does it matter? In addressing this question, we focus mainly on two of the course’s learning outcomes:
- Understand the main debates and dimensions of inclusive growth.
- Appreciate and apply some of the methodologies for trying to measure inclusive growth.