Economic Inclusion: from Content Identification to Assessment for Determining Policy Targets

Abstract

The purpose of this manuscript is to clarify the concept of “economic inclusion”and substantiate the algorithm for assessing the level of economic inclusion. The authors proceed from the fact that a relevant assessment algorithm forms the basis for the correct definition of public policy targets. Economic inclusion is explained as a systemic characteristic of social development, which reflects the involvement of citizens in eco-nomic processes. An approach to an integrated assessment of the level of economic inclusion is proposed. The results obtained were used to identify imbalances in inclusive development and, accordingly, priority areas of public policy, taking into account the principles of balanced and inclusive growth. The manuscript substantiates the idea that the origins of modern ideas about economic inclusion were formed in the process of evolution of the general theory of inclusion, the foundations of which were laid back in the 1970s. The definition of economic inclusion as a set of actions to ensure access to work and entrepreneurial activity, to income and consumption, as well as to participation in the management of economic resources, is one of the main results of the study. The conclusions of this work are related to a substantiated integral index of economic inclu-sion, which involves the use of a set of indicators. The level of economic inclusion in the Ukrainian economy during the active phase of the war decreased to “critical”values, according to calculations of the integral indexbased on Ukrainian data and using data from EU countries for comparison. Economic authorities should consider this reality when developing public policy.