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An upswing in the global economy—now growing by about 3 per cent, the highest growth rate since 2011—paves the way for governments to reorient policy towards longer-term issues such as addressing climate change, tackling existing inequalities and removing institutional obstacles to development. On February 13, the Global Economic Monitoring Unit, lead authors of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018, hosted a briefing on “The Global Economic Outlook and its Implications for the Sustainable Development Goals”.
The discussion covered a very diverse range of topics, reflecting the broad spectrum of expertise represented by the panel. Dawn Holland, Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit, were joined by Pedro Conceição, Director of Strategic Policy in the United Nations Development Program‘s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, Vinicius Carvalho Pinheiro, Special Representative and Director of the International Labour Organization‘s New York Office; Heather Tallis, Global Managing Director and Lead Scientist for Strategy Innovation in The Nature Conservancy; John Dionisio, Director of Business Development, Meridiam North America; and Christopher Lane, Special Representative of the International Monetary Fund to the United Nations.
Among the many issues touched upon were inequality and the economics of innovation and technology change; fostering broader private sector engagement in sustainable investment; aligning educational priorities with the changing nature of work; the impact of energy transition on labour markets; and specific examples of small policy changes with the potential to trigger relative big impacts, bringing ecological, social and economic benefits all at the same time.
