50 Years of Measuring World Economies

In 2018, the International Comparison Program (ICP) celebrates the 50^th anniversary of its inception in 1968. The World Bank Group will host an event on May 23, 2018 to commemorate this ICP milestone. World Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva will deliver opening remarks to a fireside chat with 2015 Nobel Laureate in economics Sir Angus Deaton and Georgetown University Provost Robert M. Groves on the challenges and opportunities for investing in evidence for sustainable development.  Lawrence H. Summers, the 71^st Secretary of the US Treasury and son of ICP co-founder Robert Summers, will share a recorded tribute. A video produced by the World Bank for the occasion will showcase the history and impact of the ICP. The ICP is the largest global data initiative led by the World Bank, under the auspices of the United Nations, with the participation of about 200 countries and 20 multilateral agencies. The ICP produces Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of the world’s economies. These indicators play a key role in analyses carried out by policymakers, multilateral institutions, academia, and the private sector. The World Bank uses PPPs in its shareholding formula and indicators underlying its twin goals on poverty and shared prosperity. PPPs also underpin indicators used to monitor national progress towards six of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, including poverty, inequality, health and well-being, energy, the environment, and labor.