Economic Development Policy

Abstract

Abstract This chapter, “Economic Development Policy,” focuses on the critical role of development decision-making and poverty alleviation in the realization of public health outcomes. Economic development policy shapes public health, insofar as economic development policy influences determinants of health, including the persistence of intersectional inequalities faced by the most vulnerable communities that materially affect health outcomes. Economic development policy, as set by international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), can be viewed as global health policy, particularly when development lending facilities and programs are purposely designed toward realizing desired population health targets and community health needs. Multidimensional development governance to advance public health—which considers medical, scientific, economic, environmental, and social determinants for overall public health—emerged to a large extent from the international reconceptualization of economic development policy as global public health policy. The World Bank has since begun to address intersectional concerns in framing its funding policies to advance global health—through a multidimensional approach to understanding social inclusion, public health, and human rights in economic development—but these global health efforts have faced implementation challenges in regional, national, and local contexts.