Translating economic growth into better lives

According to MIT News, Lyonel Tanganco, a graduate student in MIT’s Data, Economics, and Design of Policy program, is linking data, policy and community projects to make growth more inclusive in middle‑income countries. MIT News reports that during his tenure at the Philippine Department of Finance he helped raise taxes on cigarettes, vaping and alcohol, which funded a sixfold boost to the health‑care budget, and backed reforms that shifted tax burdens toward top earners. The outlet adds that the conditional cash‑transfer scheme he helped design provides families about twelve dollars each month for regular child check‑ups, a move that has lifted health‑seeking behavior eightfold and now serves more than one hundred ninety thousand households. Per the same source, Tanganco now encourages doctors, nutritionists and community health workers to collaborate with economists so their impact can be quantified and turned into evidence‑based policy, embodying MIT’s interdisciplinary spirit.

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