Growth in the New Economy Towards a Blueprint 2026

Ensuring that the benefits from the new economy are widely shared presents new challenges, as the way value is created, measured and distributed changes dramatically, reshaping fiscal systems. Societal pressures are emerging as fiscal space is tightening, and tax systems need a fundamental rethinking. Technological change and demographic shifts are placing pressure on traditional revenue bases, while international capital mobility has limited the possibility of governments implementing ambitious fiscal agendas and shoring up public revenues. Budgets are already stretched and are becoming increasingly constrained, with new needs for investments in defence and green technologies adding pressure to fundamental investments in education, healthcare and infrastructure.7 Amid increasing societal polarization, public and private sector leaders are navigating between two broad approaches: mobility-based strategies, which focus on widening access to education, labour markets, skills, finance, technology and entrepreneurship to enable upward mobility and long-term empowerment; and redistribution-based strategies, which focus on progressive taxation and public redistribution mechanisms to fund access to education, health and social protection as well as narrow income gaps and ensure a minimum standard of living across societies. Most countries tend to blend both approaches, yet each carries distinct benefits and drawbacks. Mobility-based strategies can encourage dynamism, innovation and productivity but can leave significant disparities unaddressed. Redistribution-based strategies can strengthen social cohesion and resilience but, in some cases, may dampen economic dynamism or risk capital outflows if not matched by international fiscal coordination. How countries navigate these approaches will shape the distribution of benefits from the new economy. 9 Growth in the New Economy: Towards a Blueprint