Achieving inclusive growth

Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD, joined IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath and World Bank chief economist Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg for a discussion titled “Income Inequality Matters: How to Ensure Economic Growth Benefits the Many and Not the Few.”

The 3 chief economists laid out the case for why income inequality is increasing and what can be done to stop it.

“The less skilled you are, the less you respect the government, and the more worried you are about their capacity to help you, which is another reason to help the lower skilled people.

“The more we undermine multilateralism, the more difficult it is going to be to reach any agreement on taxation, to understand how value chains are working, and how we can actually help people look and relocate geographically and to grasp opportunity rather than being left behind and suffering from that.”

— Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD

Not that you asked, but: The subject was an interesting choice because the IMF and World Bank are often blamed for increasing inequality. Historically, the organizations have made loans to already indebted developing countries that are pilfered by unscrupulous officials and well-paid consultants, contractors and con men.

• The loans often come with requirements that the country cut wages, social spending and benefits for its citizens and open its economies to multinational corporations. That has tended to result in higher, rather than lower, income inequality.

Worth mentioning: It’s the first time in the history of the 3 organizations that all chief economists are women.

Πηγή: axios.com