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Economists care about growth. Governments care about what it can achieve: more jobs and more income for more people. An increasing number of African countries have been growing robustly for more than a decade. But while growth is a necessary condition for poverty reduction and employment creation, is it also sufficient?
When growth first takes off, it is typically associated with steady progress in several dimensions of poverty reduction: incomes rise and countries are able to finance more spending on health and education, which translates into much-needed progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. But after this initial spurt, other questions arise. In particular, a number of countries are increasingly concerned about how inclusive growth is; are the benefits well-spread or do they accrue only to the few? (more…)
Filed under: Advanced Economies, Africa, Economic Crisis, growth, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, LICs, Low-income countries | Tagged: Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, education, Ethiopia, growth, health, inclusive growth, income, income inequality, jobs, Liberia, low income countries, Millenium Development Goals, Mozambique, natural resources, oil, Rwanda, social justice, social safety nets, Tanzania, tax regimes, Uganda, virtuous growth cycle | 3 Comments »
