Resilient Growth, Persisting Inequality : Identifying Potential Factors Limiting Shared Prosperity in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic (DR) has recorded exceptional growth over the past twenty years and has closed the gap with the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. While in the early 1990s the DRs per capita income was only about 57 percent that in LA...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Publications & Research |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2015
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/01/23927245/null http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21499 |
Summary: | The Dominican Republic (DR) has recorded
exceptional growth over the past twenty years and has closed
the gap with the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
While in the early 1990s the DRs per capita income was only
about 57 percent that in LAC, it has climbed to around 90
percent nowadays. However, the countrys ability to reduce
poverty and improving equity has been less stellar. This
note presents some stylized facts of the DR economy that
might help understand this phenomenon. In doing so, the note
addresses the following three questions: (i) Has growth been
inclusive in the DR?; (ii) Why has the DR economy grown so
rapidly?; and (iii) Why has growth not led to further
improvements in equity? This note tentatively argues that
some potential factors explaining the latter are the decline
in real wages despite increasing productivity, special
economic zones that are relatively isolated from the rest of
the economy, and the States limited capacity for fiscal redistribution. |
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