This paper explores the linkages between productivity and social development from the perspective of synthesizing the findings of projects undertaken by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards in three related areas. The first is a project exploring the linkages between productivity and social well-being involving researchers from around the world and culminating in the edited volume Toward a Social Understanding of Productivity. Contributions discuss both linkages from productivity to social well-being, as in the case of productivity's role in improving fiscal balances; and from social well-being to productivity, as in the case of social and cultural factors surrounding the desire and capacity of families to invest in the education of children having powerful long-term consequences in a knowledge-driven economy. The second area is the Index of Economic Well-being developed by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards. Each of the four components - consumption, stocks of wealth, equality and economic security - are positively affected by productivity, and some in addition can in turn positively affect productivity. The third area is statistical research into the relationship between productivity and poverty in developing countries. It is found that this relationship is even stronger than that between economic growth and poverty reduction, and about as important as that between GDP per capita growth and poverty reduction. It is also found that the level of income inequality mediates the relationship between productivity growth and poverty reduction. The greater the level of inequality and any increase in inequality, the less an increase in productivity and income will reduce poverty.
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Paper provided by Centre for the Study of Living Standards in its series CSLS Research Reports with number
2004-02.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Richard G. Harris, 2002.
"Social Policy and Productivity Growth: What are the Linkages?,"
The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress,
in: Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director & France St-Hilaire, Vice-President , Research & Keith Banting, Di (ed.), The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity, volume 2
Centre for the Study of Living Standards & The Institutute for Research on Public Policy.
[Downloadable!]
Joseph Heath, 2002.
"Should Productivity Be a Social Priority?,"
The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress,
in: Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director & France St-Hilaire, Vice-President , Research & Keith Banting, Di (ed.), The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity, volume 2
Centre for the Study of Living Standards & The Institutute for Research on Public Policy.
[Downloadable!]
R. Quentin Grafton & Stephen Knowles & P. Dorian Owen, 2002.
"Social Divergence and Productivity: Making a Connection,"
The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress,
in: Andrew Sharpe, Executive Director & France St-Hilaire, Vice-President , Research & Keith Banting, Di (ed.), The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity, volume 2
Centre for the Study of Living Standards & The Institutute for Research on Public Policy.
[Downloadable!]