New episode of the EBRD podcast available for download
The latest episode of the Pocket Economics podcast looks at the reasons why economic inclusion is one of the defining challenges of our time across the EBRD regions and beyond.
The EBRD recently made inclusion the core part of its work by adopting its first Economic Inclusion Strategy and dedicating its Transition Report to the themes of inequality and inclusion.
In the podcast the EBRD’s Lead Economist focusing on inclusion Barbara Rambousek explains how the perception of inequality determines people’s views on transition in their countries and influences their participation in the democratic process.
In this context, inequality of opportunity is the most pressing kind of inequality because it alienates people from society and participation in it on grounds of gender, race or region.
Amongst the areas that are fuelling the perception of inequality the most, Barbara Rambousek highlights the following:
“Access to education, access to employment, access to healthcare and services more broadly, and differentials in opportunities that are created as a result of that access. Whether you live in the peripheral region, or maybe you’re born into well-connected wealthy family or ethnic minority group, such as Roma or refugee, has a huge impact on the economic opportunities that are open to a person,” she tells Jonathan Charles, EBRD Managing Director, Communications.
Inclusion is key to achieving long-term sustainable growth. Closing the inclusion gap is a huge task that will require time, investment and lots of patience.
