Share

Are the Americas More Socially Inclusive?

By Johanna Mendelson Forman

The Americas Quarterly Social Inclusion Index 2014 depicts a dynamic region where today’s citizens have expectations not only regarding economic improvement, but also personal empowerment and government responsiveness.

The 2014 Social Inclusion Index is not just another good news story.

This portrait of seventeen countries in the Americas depicts a dynamic region that goes beyond the clichés about income inequality. It paints a picture of how citizens expectations today are not only about economic improvement, but also about finding a voice in policies that will affect their collective futures.

It’s a major story about the transformation of the Americas that reflects a generational shift in how we think about development.

Good-bye Ginni co-efficient, the old gold standard to measure income inequality; hello, Social Inclusion Index, which ranks 17 countries on 21 variables from GDP growth to government responsiveness.

This multidimensional approach evaluates everything from access to public goods such as education to protection, gender rights and racial discrimination, and even adds access to justice and disability rights to paint a more comprehensive picture of where the Americas are today in terms of socio-economic well-being, justice and governance.

While economic inequality still matters in a region that has been characterized as the most unequal on the globe, the story of the Americas must be viewed with greater appreciation of the positive changes that have allowed so many of its citizens to become part of the middle class....

Read the more on this article here.

Related

Explore