Inclusive growth? The relationship between economic growth and poverty in British cities

There is growing concern in many developed economies that the benefits of economic growth are not shared equitably. This is particularly the case in the UK, where economic growth has been geographically uneven and often biased towards already affluent cities. Yet there is relatively little evidence on the relationship between growth and poverty in the UK. This paper addresses this gap with an analysis of the links between economic growth and poverty in British cities between 2000 – 2008. We find little evidence that output growth reduced poverty. While growth was associated with wage increases at the top of the distribution, it was not associated with wage growth below the median. And there was no relationship between economic growth and the low skilled employment rate. These results suggest that growth in this period was far from inclusive

The Economic Impacts of Self-Employment

Even as self-employment continues to increase, policymakers remain largely unaware of this trend and fail to see it as an opportunity for addressing enduring joblessness. In part, this is explained by limited data on the self-employed and by widespread perceptions that returns to self-employment are low; that the self-employed are merely patching together piecemeal work opportunities requiring limited skills; and that there are no local economic impacts or spillover benefits into other sectors. Contrary to these perceptions, recent studies suggest that self-employment has tangible positive economic impacts not only on wage and salary employment but also on per capita income growth and poverty reduction. This article synthesizes the pertinent emerging literature and assesses dynamics of the lags involved between self-employment shocks and subsequent employment growth