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Money-metric poverty, welfare, growth, and inequality in India: 1983 – 2011/12

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  • S. Subramanian
  • D. Jayaraj

Abstract

On the record of poverty and inequality in India over the last thirty or so years, the general scholarly view seems to be that there have been substantial declines in money-metric poverty, that there has been no significant over-time increase in inequality, and that the growth in per capita consumption expenditure has not been marked by any discernible evidence of non-inclusiveness. It is argued in this paper that inferences of this nature are largely a consequence of the particular approaches to the measurement of poverty, inequality and inclusiveness that have been generally adopted in the literature. Alternative, and arguably more plausible, protocols of measurement suggest a picture of money-metric deprivation and disparity in India which shares little in common with the product of received wisdom on the subject.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Subramanian & D. Jayaraj, 2014. "Money-metric poverty, welfare, growth, and inequality in India: 1983 – 2011/12," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 21114, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    • Handle: RePEc:bwp:bwppap:21114
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    1. Kolm, Serge-Christophe, 1976. "Unequal inequalities. II," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 82-111, August.
    2. Sanjay G Reddy, 2007. "The Great Indian Poverty Debate," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 50(2), pages 166-171, June.
    3. Basu, Kaushik, 2006. "Globalization, poverty, and inequality: What is the relationship? What can be done?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1361-1373, August.
    4. Kolm, Serge-Christophe, 1976. "Unequal inequalities. I," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 416-442, June.
    5. Angus Deaton and Jean Drèze & Jean Drèze, 2002. "Poverty and Inequality in India: A Reexamination," Working papers 107, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    6. T. N. Srinivasan, 2017. "Planning, Poverty and Political Economy of Reforms: A Tribute to Suresh D. Tendulkar," India Studies in Business and Economics, in: K.L. Krishna & Vishwanath Pandit & K. Sundaram & Pami Dua (ed.), Perspectives on Economic Development and Policy in India, chapter 0, pages 3-32, Springer.
    7. Sen, Amartya, 1983. "Poor, Relatively Speaking," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 153-169, July.
    8. Bhalla, Surjit, 2011. "Inclusion and growth in India: some facts, some conclusions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 38366, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    Cited by:

    1. Manfred Krtscha, 2017. "Some axiomatics of inequality measurement, with specific reference to intermediate indices," Working Papers 445, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

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