Growth & Shared Prosperity
Growth & Shared Prosperity
This June, a select group of public and private sector leaders will convene at Harvard Business School to grapple with one of the most critical questions of our time: How can leaders in business and government work together to create a U.S. economy in which firms both thrive in global competition and lift the standard of living for the average American?
This convening on Growth & Shared Prosperity is being led by Harvard Business School faculty Michael Porter, Jan Rivkin, Karen Mills, and Joe Fuller, working under the school’s U.S. Competitiveness project.
A troubling divergence has emerged in the recovery: large and midsize firms are rallying strongly from the Great Recession, and highly skilled individuals are thriving. But working- and middle-class Americans are struggling, as are small businesses. Prosperity is not being shared.
Public officials in America have a clear stake in seeing that prosperity is shared broadly. A growing number of business executives also see the importance of shared prosperity, and not for altruism's sake. Thriving citizens become more willing consumers and more productive employees. Struggling citizens are disgruntled at work, frugal at the cash register, and anti-business at the ballot box. Businesses cannot succeed for long while their communities languish.
HBS research efforts are underway in three critical pillars that must support any strategy for growth and shared prosperity:
- People and skills
- Business formation and job creation
- Effective collaboration among business, government, education, and other important institutions
This private summit will convene 90 outstanding business and government leaders, policy makers and scholars, to vet new findings from HBS research and identify areas where their leadership can "move the needle."