GDP remains an essential measure of economic activity, but there is growing agreement that it is not, on its own, a sufficient guide to progress. This retreat will draw on recent Beyond GDP thinking, including the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) report, to explore what it means in practice to pursue good growth: growth that expands opportunity and prosperity while strengthening the foundations on which long-term prosperity depends.
It will do so in the context of a more contested and uncertain global economy, where geopolitical competition, evolving standards and supply chain disruption can affect what is feasible, financeable and politically durable. The retreat will not focus on developing new metrics or frameworks. Instead, participants will explore practical shifts in how ‘good’ growth-related decisions are framed, appraised and made, and identify the incentives, constraints and partnerships needed to support more productive, inclusive, resilient and sustainable growth.
Particular attention will be given to labour, AI, finance and investment, standards and supply chains, where trade-offs between productivity, inclusion, resilience and sustainability are especially acute. Participants from governments, the private sector, finance and investment, international organisations, civil society and academia will work through how these trade-offs can be managed in practice across different country contexts, and what this means for policy, investment and market behaviour.
