Not everyone benefits equally from strong economic growth. And while most economists focus on optimizing policies to produce higher growth, economist Jonathan Ostry argues that it is how the benefits from that growth are distributed that will ultimately determine whether the growth will last. Ostry is deputy director of the IMF’s Research Department, and says the supply-side policies commonly prescribed by economists to increase growth often benefit disproportionately the wealthier segments of society and result in economies that are less resilient.
Jonathan Ostry is author of several books and articles on inequality, including Growth or Inclusion? featured in the June 2018 edition of Finance and Development Magazine. Ostry’s latest book Confronting Inequality, which he coauthored with IMF colleagues Prakash Loungani and Andrew Berg, is published by Columbia University Press.