經(jīng)濟學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)是，女人支撐了全球經(jīng)濟

What are the most effective tools for creating economic growth? It’s a question that drives and plagues government officials and researchers alike, as an endless quest for increased growth dictates policies that touch all of our lives. From tax reform to trade policy, decisions on immigration, infrastructure and education, growth is what lies beneath it all.

But there is another powerful driver of economic growth that has long gone largely unrecognized: women’s economic empowerment. Commonly framed as a human rights or social issue, the conversation around women in the global workforce is now shifting towards the potentially explosive financial impact that increased gender equality could bring to both developed and emerging economies.

While women make up just over half the worldwide population, a recent studydetermined that they account for only 37% of measured global GDP. But make no mistake, today’s women are working–just not as consistently as men in the type of work that factors into GDP. In addition to formal jobs, women do 60% of the unpaid work, such as child and elderly care, shopping, and household tasks that allow society to run smoothly. In the U.S., if household production were properly accounted for in national income accounts, this work alone would amount to? 26% of GDP.?

The Citi GPS report tells the story of women as a powerful, often untapped driver of economic growth. The research has far-reaching potential to raise awareness of the issues and ultimately shift public policy. The numbers are, in fact, staggering: Countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) could see as much as a 20% leap in GDP if female involvement in the economy was raised to that of men.

You read that right: 20%.

To put that number into context, today’s estimates set the total potential growth for OECD countries at about 1.5 percent per year from 2016-18. According to Ebrahim Rahbari, and one of the report’s lead authors, the potential for growth through women’s economic empowerment far outweighs other options to boost growth such as monetary or fiscal stimulus packages.

“The 20% number is an ambitious, best-case scenario because it relies on female participation levels, average working hours and average productivity levels matching that of men. More conservative, perhaps more realistic estimates for the near-to-medium term put the potential at 6% if we create the conditions to increase female participation in the economy,” Rahbari says. “But even at 6%, it far surpasses what you would expect as a gain from alternative options to boost growth such as the proposed tax reform in the US, which might boost GDP by around 1-1.5% over a few years. The size of the opportunity is just huge.”