Governments must promote mobility of people: World Bank

14 March 2009

For rapid, shared growth, governments must promote economic integration which, at its core, is about the mobility of people, products, and ideas, said a world bank report released in New Delhi on Thursday.

The 'World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography' challenges the assumption that economic activities must be spread geographically to benefit the world's most poor and vulnerable.

''Throughout history, mobility has helped people escape the tyranny of poor geography or poor governance,'' said Indermit S Gill, director of WDR and regional chief economist for the World Bank's Europe and Central Asia region at a media briefing on the report.

''The report sees this as part of a vital process of economic integration, since mobile people and products form the cornerstone of inclusive, sustainable globalisation,'' Gill added.

The transformations along three dimensions - density, distance, and division - are essential for development and should be encouraged, the report asserts.

It states that density is the most important dimension locally, distance to density the most important dimension nationally, and division the most important dimension (or indeed obstacle) internationally. Therefore it advocates that urbanisation, mobility and regional exchanges should be encouraged with the overall objective to facilitate market access.