Frequently Asked Questions

  • Mastercard leverages the power of data for good. It is committed to increasing the capacity of the public and social sectors to solve systemic problems using real evidence. All insights are developed under Mastercard's deep and longstanding commitment to privacy and data protection, information security, and responsible data management.

  • Existing data sets that can show economic activity or depression at these levels of granularity and at higher frequency intervals are few and far between. Through analysis of aggregated and anonymised data, whether public, spend, or other commercially available data, Mastercard can better understand economic growth trends and depressions at a more granular level.

  • Mastercard represents a large number of cardholders in various countries around the globe. We recognize that this cardholder population may not be representative of the overall population in each country, particularly when a significant proportion of the population relies on cash for payments. When insights are applied to broader population, we model those insights to broader spending patterns. For calculating the Inclusive Growth Score, we also layer publicly available information, such as census data, and independent research into our analysis to help build out a complete picture of spending. In fact, Mastercard's spending insights derived from Mastercard's anonymised and aggregated transactions represent less than 30% of the data powering the Inclusive Growth Score.

  • Mastercard's longstanding commitment to privacy and the care with which we handle data are a vital part of our responsibility to our customers, accountholders, and employees, and help us earn and maintain their trust.

  • Mastercard insights can inform policymakers about current trends of economic activity. And over time, help demonstrate the broader inclusive impact of investor dollars.

  • Alongside our partners, we are able to tell a story that is greater than just Mastercard insights and is inclusive of other information to help tell a more complete story. For instance, with Brookings, we'll be able to help cities by sharing informative insights about the future industries and jobs that will drive growth at a hyperlocal level.

  • The Inclusive Growth Score can help identify the communities most vulnerable to the pandemic, by the broad set of measures around economy, place, and community.

  • Contact us to discuss partnership opportunities.

  • The Inclusive Growth Score expansion in dependent on the quality of mastercard data in the geography, ensuring that our data assets are a meaningful contribution to the data landscape for economic development. The IGS was originally created to address investmenst pouring into Opportunity Zones in the United States. Following strong Mastercard data and demonstrated need, the expansion is now complete for the United Kingdom with additional countries under consideration. If you're interested in seeing this tool for your country, please contact us.

The Inclusive Growth Score™

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