Shared prosperity is a common phrase in current development policy discourse. Its most widely used operational definitionthe growth rate in the average income of the poorest 40% of a countrys populationis a truncated measure of change in social welfare. A related concept, the shared prosperity premiumthe difference between the growth rate of the mean for the bottom 40% and the growth rate in the overall meanis similarly analogous to a measure of change in inequality. This article reviews the relationship between these concepts and the more established ideas of social welfare, poverty, inequality, and mobility."/p" "p"Household survey data can be used to shed light on recent progress in terms of this indicator globally. During 20082013, mean incomes for the poorest 40% rose in 60 of the 83 countries for which we have data. In 49 of them, accounting for 65% of the sampled population, it rose "italic"faster"/italic" than overall average incomes, thus narrowing the income gap."/p" "p"In the policy space, there are examples both of pre-distribution policies (which promote human capital investment among the poor) and re-distribution policies (such as targeted safety nets), which when well-designed have a sound empirical track record of both raising productivity and improving well-being among the poor.
Document type: Book
Abstract
Shared prosperity is a common phrase in current development policy discourse. Its most widely used operational definitionthe growth rate in the average income of the poorest 40% of a countrys populationis a truncated measure of change in social welfare. A related concept, [...]