Health and Social Problems (IHSP). The composite index covers 23
OECD countries and includes the following indicators: homicides,
imprisonment, infant mortality, life expectancy, math and literacy
score, mental illness, obesity, social mobility, teenage births and
trust. The authors discuss the impact of inequality on the most
vulnerable, and offer ways to tackling inequality.
Alex Cobham, in “We’re all in this together: Why fighting inequality is
central to development,” highlights the gap between the ambition of the
Millennium Declaration and the eventual form of the MDGs,
mostly in three areas: sustainability, accountability and inequality.
He discusses consequences of inequality to child poverty, and the
opportunities and challenges in the process of identifying the post-
2015 successor to the MDGs.
The prevalence of children and youth among the poorest world
income quintiles is disturbing, as approximately 50% of children
and youth are below the $2 a day international poverty line. This is
due to high fertility rates in poor households. In 2011, the 7th billion
child was born; the rate of population growth has increased
drastically: in 1999 the world population was 6 billion, and it is
expected to reach 8 billion in 2027. This is, the number of children
and young people keeps rising massively and reducing poverty and
inequality must be about a development agenda focused on
children.
This equitable development agenda needs to move away from a
shallow prioritization of growth rates accompanied by residual
safety nets. The disconnect between economic policies and their
social consequences has created a vicious circle of low employment
for families and poor social progress for most. As many point out
in this volume, reducing poverty and inequality will require socially-
responsive macroeconomic policies, that is, focused on
employment-generating growth and creating fiscal space for