'Why Do We Need to Invest in Quality Infrastructure?' A Blog on OECD's Website

A blog entitled “Why Do We Need to Invest in Quality Infrastructure?” written by Hirota Koki, a visiting fellow at the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development, was published in a blog series entitled Development Matters on the website of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Nov. 7, 2022.

In the blog, Hirota first drew attention to a trend of international reviews against overemphasis on income growth in measuring people's well-being and affluence—the background of the Sustainable Development Goals and the OECD’s discussion of indicators beyond GDP. Therefore, instead of tackling the issues of inequality, sustainability, or resilience after the achievement of income growth, a holistic approach that factors in these issues is required from the preparatory stage of development initiatives, including infrastructure building. He argues that quality infrastructure investment is a methodology for achieving development focusing on not only growth but also inclusiveness, sustainability, and resilience. To propel quality infrastructure investment forward, he proposes to incorporate these perspectives into the selection criteria and project design of every development activity and to pay more attention to wider socioeconomic effects.

The findings are part of the study of the JICA Ogata Research Institute“Quality Growth.”

Click on the link below to read the full blog post.