Are inclusive growth and economic justice the same thing?

CLES CEO, Neil McInroy, and Metro Dynamics Associate Director, Alex Gardiner, recently discussed the concept of inclusive growth for the Centre for Progressive Policy.

The Centre for Progressive Policy believes that a new, more inclusive approach to growth is needed, harnessing the best of central and local government to build on the assets and opportunities of place. The CPP define inclusive growth as moving away from the current approach of ‘grow now, redistribute later’, instead challenging us to see how we can structure the economy more fairly to make it work for all from the start.

However, the idea of inclusive growth has been interpreted differently by others and so to explore these differences, Neil and Alex discussed their thoughts on the concept of inclusive growth.

Here’s what was said in a nutshell…

Neil:

“I don’t think that inclusive growth is synonymous with economic justice, indeed if it was synonymous there would arguably be no need for the new term ‘Inclusive growth’! Compared to economic justice, inclusive growth has little provenance or accepted understanding. Inclusive growth is nebulous, and is “conceptually fuzzy and operationally problematic”, having “only a limited evidence base”.”

Alex:

“Inclusive growth is not traditional economic development with a new name. Inclusive growth is about justice and growth.”

Read the full debate over on the Centre for Progressive Policy’s website.