inequality – Page 2

Inclusive Growth and the IMF

prakash-loungani-128x112-72 By Prakash Loungani

Versions in 中文 (Chinese), Français (French), and Español (Spanish)

Four years ago, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned of the dangers of rising inequality, a topic that has now risen to the very top of the global policy agenda.

While the IMF’s work on inequality has attracted the most attention, it is one of several new areas into which the institution has branched out in recent years. A unifying framework for all this work can be summarized in two words: Inclusive growth. (more…)

By IMFBlog| January 24th, 2017|Economic research, Globalization, growth, IMF, Inequality|0 Comments

Questioning Accepted Truths

camilla-andersen-may2015 By Camilla Lund Andersen

2016 has been a year of political upheaval, as accepted truths about the power of globalization to transform lives and lift millions out of poverty are being questioned by electorates in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. No longer prepared to take experts and elites at their word, many voters appear to be rejecting the adverse consequences of globalization by casting their ballot for antiestablishment messages and candidates.

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By IMFBlog| November 30th, 2016|Employment, Globalization, growth, IMF, income, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Investment|0 Comments

Migrants Bring Economic Benefits for Advanced Economies

By Florence Jaumotte, Ksenia Koloskova, and Sweta Saxena

Version in Español (Spanish)

Migration, no matter how controversial politically, makes sense economically. A new IMF study shows that, over the longer term, both high- and low-skilled workers who migrate bring benefits to their new home countries by increasing income per person and living standards. High-skilled migrants bring diverse talent and expertise, while low-skilled migrants fill essential occupations for which natives are in short supply and allow natives to be employed at higher-skilled jobs. Moreover, the gains are broadly shared by the population. It may therefore be well-worth shouldering the short-term costs to help integrate these new workers.

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By IMFBlog| October 24th, 2016|Advanced Economies, Economic research, Employment, Europe, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Migration|0 Comments

Building Collaboration Without Crisis

By Ian Bremmer and David Lipton

Versions: عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), Français (French), 日本語 (Japanese), Русский (Russian), and Español (Spanish)

Too often, a spirit of international cooperation evaporates just when it is most needed and most promising. And then, lack of cooperation leads to crisis; crisis belatedly forces cooperation; but that cooperation must begin with picking up the pieces.

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By IMFBlog| September 29th, 2016|Advanced Economies, Annual Meetings, Economic Crisis, Economic research, Emerging Markets, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, U.S., Uncategorized|0 Comments

China’s Rebalancing Explained in 6 Charts

By Longmei Zhang

Version in 中文 (Chinese)

The word “rebalancing” is often used to describe China’s economic transition. But what does it mean? And how much is China rebalancing? A recent IMF paper attempts to answer these questions. (more…)

By IMFBlog| September 6th, 2016|Advanced Economies, Asia, climate change, Financial markets, growth, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Reform, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Unemployment: Troubles Ahead for Emerging Markets

By Prakash Loungani and Zidong An

Version in Español (Spanish)

Forecasts of real GDP growth attract a lot of media attention. But what matters more to the person on the street is how growth translates into jobs. Unfortunately, the mediocre growth outlook of recent years may lead to a disturbing outlook for jobs, particularly among fuel-exporting countries and in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

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By IMFBlog| May 3rd, 2016|Advanced Economies, developing countries, Emerging Markets, euro zone, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, U.S.|0 Comments

Globalization, Skills & Inequality

by iMFdirect

We should have seen a decrease in inequality with globalization, but that's not what has happened in the last 25 years, according to Nobel Laureate and Harvard Professor Eric Maskin. While there are a number of reasons to care about inequality, he says there is a high correlation between high inequality and social and political unrest, with consequences for a country's political and economic stability.

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By IMFBlog| March 17th, 2016|Advanced Economies, Economic research, Emerging Markets, Employment, Globalization, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, Low-income countries|0 Comments

It’s Mostly Food: How to Tame Indian Inflation

By Rahul Anand and Paul Cashin

After being low for decades, inflation in India trended higher from the mid-2000s. It reached 10–11 percent by 2008, and remained elevated at double digits for several years. Even though inflation fell by almost half in 2014, inflation expectations have remained high.

High and persistent inflation in recent years has presented serious macroeconomic challenges in India, increasing the country’s domestic and external vulnerabilities. As Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan pointed out at the 8th R.N. Kao Memorial Lecture in 2014, “inflation is a destructive disease … we can’t push inflation under the carpet as a central banker. We have to deal with it.”

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By IMFBlog| March 10th, 2016|Asia, Emerging Markets, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund, LICs|0 Comments

Openness and Inequality: Distributional Impacts of Capital Account Liberalization

By Davide Furceri and Prakash Loungani

(Version in Español)

It is well accepted that trade generates winners and losers. The past few decades have seen increases not just in trade in goods and services but trade in assets, as countries relax restrictions on the ability of capital to flow across national boundaries. Surprisingly, while the impact of trade in goods and services on inequality has been extensively studied, little attention has been paid to the distributional impacts of opening up capital markets. Our paper fills this gap.

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By IMFBlog| November 24th, 2015|Economic outlook, Economic research, International Monetary Fund|0 Comments

Tackling Inequality in sub-Saharan Africa Could Yield Mileage on Growth

by Antoinette Sayeh

(Versions in Français and Português)

Rising inequality is both a moral and economic issue that has implications for the general health of the global economy, and impacts prosperity and growth.

So it’s not surprising that reducing inequality is an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by world leaders at the United Nations summit in September. I often discuss with my colleagues where sub-Saharan Africa stands with respect to these objectives. Unfortunately, the region remains one of the most unequal in the world, on par with Latin America (see Chart 1). In fact, inequality seems markedly higher at all levels of income in the region than elsewhere (see Chart 2).

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By IMFBlog| November 16th, 2015|Africa, growth, IMF, Inequality, International Monetary Fund|0 Comments

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