Measuring Progress Towards Inclusive And Sustainable Growth In Japan

The report Measuring Progress towards Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in Japan is the outcome of a collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry which aims to monitor progress in key areas crucial to realising the Japanese government’s vision for a “New Form of Capitalism”.

The Inclusive Wealth Index provides important insights into long-term economic growth and human well-being. The Index measures the wealth of nations through a comprehensive analysis of a country's productive base and the country’s wealth in terms of progress, well-being and long-term sustainability. It measures all assets which human well-being is based upon, in particular, produced, human and natural capital to create and maintain human well-being over time.

This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies in 54 countries, including the 38 OECD countries, the five non-OECD EU Member States, and 11 emerging economies.

The goals of universal health coverage (UHC) are to ensure that all people can access quality health services, to safeguard all people from public health risks, and to protect all people from impoverishment due to illness, whether from out-of-pocket payments for health care or loss of income when a household member falls sick. Countries as diverse as Brazil, France, Japan, Thailand, and Turkey have shown how UHC can serve as vital mechanisms for improving the health and welfare of their citizens, and lay the foundation for economic growth and competitiveness grounded in the principles of equity and sustainability. Ensuring universal access to affordable, quality health services will be an important contribution to ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), where most of the world's poor live. The book synthesizes the experiences from 11 countries – Bangladesh, Brazil, France, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Peru, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam – in implementing policies and strategies to achieve and sustain UHC. These countries represent diverse geographic and economic conditions, but all have committed to UHC as a key national aspiration and are approaching it in different ways. The study examined the UHC policies for each country around three common themes: (i) the political economy and policy process for adopting, achieving, and sustaining UHC; (ii) health financing policies to enhance health coverage; and (iii) human resources for health policies for achieving UHC. The findings from these country studies are intended to provide lessons that can be used by countries aspiring to adopt, achieve, and sustain UHC. Although the path to UHC is specific to each country, countries can benefit from the experiences of others in learning about different approaches and avoiding potential risks.

This book provides practical policy recommendations that are useful for developing Asia and for accelerating poverty reduction plans in the rest of the world. Poverty reduction in all its forms remains one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. In developing Asia, rapid growth in countries and sub-regions such as China, India, and Southeast Asia has lifted millions out of poverty, but progress has been uneven. On the other hand, the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the global economic recession that it has caused are pushing millions of people back into poverty. Poverty reduction, inclusive growth, and sustainable development are inseparable, and poverty reduction is the premise for sustainable development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a bold commitment to finish what we started and end poverty in all forms and dimensions by 2030. However, because of the current global recession, the world is not on track to end poverty by 2030. Given the aforementioned situation, if we plan to achieve the no-poverty target in line with the SDGs, governments need to reconsider their policies and economies need to allocate their resources for this aim. Owing to the importance of the topic, this book provides several thematic and empirical studies on the roles of small and medium-sized enterprises, local businesses and trusts, international remittances and microfinance, energy security and energy efficiency in poverty reduction, and inclusive growth.