The Dominican Republic has low economicmobility, with less than 2 percent of its people climbing toa higher income group during the decade, compared to anaverage 41 percent in the Latin America and Caribbean regionas a whole. Despite improving access to basic goods andservices such as water and education, coverage and qualityremain uneven, thus limiting the economic opportunities ofmany disadvantaged people. This reflects their inability toinfluence the system to their benefit, a manifestation ofweak political agency. This report uses a comprehensivedefinition of "equity" which entails that citizensmust have equal access to opportunities, be able to live indignity, and have the autonomy and voice to participatefully in their communities and decide on life plans thatthey have reason to value. This report identifies threebroad goals for addressing the underlying causes of economicinequity in the Dominican Republic: (1) promote equitable,efficient, and sustainable fiscal policy; (2) build fair,transparent, and efficient institutions that will improvethe provision and quality of public goods and services,expand economic opportunities, increase upward mobility, andbetter protect economically vulnerable Dominicans; and (3)strengthen access of the poor to labor markets and increasethe demand for their labor, so as to make efficient use ofhuman capital and allow the poor to benefit from economicgrowth. The analysis presented in this study analyzesmobility within generations by measuring directional incomemovement, that is, the net upward or downward movement inindividual incomes over time. Serious analytical effortsshould be devoted to understanding the apparentdisconnection between macro and micro data that hinders theability of national statistics to accurately reflectmacroeconomic and social progress.
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