Toward universal, progressive, and lifelong asset building: introduction to the special issue on inclusive child development accounts

Child Development Accounts (CDAs) are subsidised savings or investment accounts that enable families to accumulate assets to invest in children’s long-term development. Ideally, CDAs are universal (everyone participates), progressive (greater subsidies for the poor) and lifelong (beginning at birth). This introduction provides a theoretical and policy background of CDAs in the global context, summarises seven papers in this volume and creates a vision for future CDA development.