Shared prosperity: concepts, data, and some policy examples

Francisco Ferreira, Emanuela Galasso and Mario Negre

No 8451, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: "Shared prosperity"has become a common phrase in the development policy discourse. This short paper provides its most widely used operational definition -- the growth rate in the average income of the poorest 40 percent of a country's population -- and describes its origins. The paper discusses how this notion relates to well-established concepts and social indicators, including social welfare, poverty, inequality, and mobility, and reviews some of its design shortcomings. The paper then looks at household survey data to assess recent progress in this indicator globally. The analysis finds that during 2008?13, mean incomes for the poorest 40 percent rose in 60 of 83 countries. In 49 of them, accounting for 65 percent of the sampled population, it rose faster than overall average incomes. Finally, the paper briefly reviews a (non-exhaustive) range of'pre-distribution'and'redistribution'policies with a sound empirical track record of raising productivity and well-being among the poor, thus contributing to shared prosperity.

Keywords: Inequality; Services&Transfers to Poor; Access of Poor to Social Services; Economic Assistance; Disability; Employment and Unemployment; Effective Schools and Teachers; Educational Institutions&Facilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-05-22
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/881491526993639155/pdf/WPS8451.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Shared Prosperity: Concepts, Data, and Some Policy Examples (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8451

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().