spence111_NIKLAS HALLE'NAFPGetty Images_homeless man Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images

How Inequality Undermines Economic Performance

To commemorate its founding 25 years ago, PS is republishing a selection of commentaries written since 1994. In the following commentary, Michael Spence explained why non-inclusive growth patterns are inherently unsustainable.

About a decade ago, the Commission on Growth and Development (which I chaired) published a report that attempted to distill 20 years of research and experience in a wide range of countries into lessons for developing economies. Perhaps the most important lesson was that growth patterns that lack inclusiveness and fuel inequality generally fail.

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