영한_거시경제_김승희

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리스틴 라가르드는 국제통화기금(IMF) 전 총재이자 유럽중앙은행(ECB) 총재의 연설로 임금불평등 실질 국가사례와 관련요인들 그리고 해결책에 대한 연설입니다.

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"A New Multilateralism for the 21st Century: the Richard Dimbleby Lecture" By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

February 3, 2014

글로서리

International Labor Organization

국제노동기구

Demographics and degradation of the environment are two major long-term trends—disparity of income is the third. This is really an old issue that has come to the fore once again.

We are all keenly aware that income inequality has been rising in most countries. Seven out of ten people in the world today live in countries where inequality has increased over the past three decades.

Some of the numbers are stunning. the richest 85 people in the world own the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population.

In the US, inequality is back to where it was before the Great Depression, and the richest 1 percent captured 95 percent of all income gains since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent got poorer. In India, the net worth of the billionaire community increased twelvefold in 15 years, enough to eliminate absolute poverty in this country twice over.

With facts like these, it is not surprising that inequality is increasingly on the global community’s radar screen.

Let me be frank: in the past, economists have underestimated the importance of inequality. They have focused on economic growth, on the size of the pie rather than its distribution. Today, we are more keenly aware of the damage done by inequality. Put simply, a severely skewed income distribution harms the pace and sustainability of growth over the longer term. It leads to an economy of exclusion, and a wasteland of discarded potential. It is easy to diagnose the problem, but far more difficult to solve it.

From our work at the IMF, we know that the fiscal system can help to reduce inequality through careful design of tax and spending policies. Think about making taxation more progressive, improving access to health and education, and putting in place effective and targeted social programs. Yet these policies are hard to design and they create resistance and require courage.

Nevertheless, we need to get to grips with it, and make sure that “inclusion” is given as much weight as “growth” in the design of policies. Yes, we need inclusive growth.

More inclusion and opportunity in the economic life also means less cronyism and corruption. This must also rise to the top of the policy agenda.

There is one more dimension of inequality that I wish to discuss here. If we talk about inclusion in economic life, we must surely talk about gender.

As we know too well, girls and women are still not allowed to fulfill their potential—not just in the developing world, but in rich countries too. The International Labor Organization estimates that 865 million women around the world are being held back.

They face discrimination at birth.

And yet, the economic facts of life are crystal clear. By not letting women contribute, we end up with lower living standards for everyone. If women participated in the labor force to the same extent as men, the boost to per capita incomes could be huge—27 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, 23 percent in South Asia. We simply cannot afford to throw away these gains.