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Global poverty and inequality : a review of the evidence

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Author Info
Ferreira, Francisco H.G.
Ravallion, Martin

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Abstract

Drawing on a compilation of data from household surveys representing 130 countries, many over a period of 25 years, this paper reviews the evidence on levels and recent trends in global poverty and income inequality. It documents the negative correlations between both poverty and inequality indices, on the one hand, and mean income per capita on the other. It points to the dominant role of Asia in accounting for the bulk of the world's poverty reduction since 1981. The evolution of global inequality in the last decades is also described, with special emphasis on the different trends of inequality within and between countries. The statistical relationships between growth, inequality and poverty are discussed, as is the correlation between inequality and the growth elasticity of poverty reduction. Some of the recent literature on the drivers of distributional change in developing countries is also reviewed.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 4623.

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Date of creation: 01 May 2008
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4623

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Keywords: Inequality; Achieving Shared Growth; Services&Transfers to Poor; Population Policies; Poverty Impact Evaluation;

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  1. Abhijit Banerjee & Thomas Piketty, 2005. "Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 1-20.
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  2. Martin Ravallion & Michael Lokshin, 2007. "Lasting Impacts of Indonesia’s Financial Crisis," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56, pages 27-56. [Downloadable!]
  3. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Leite, Phillippe G. & Wai-Poi, Matthew, 2007. "Trade liberalization, employment flows, and wage inequality in Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4108, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Bourguignon, Francois & Levin, Victoria & Rosenblatt, David, 2006. "Global redistribution of income," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3961, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Gary S. Becker & Tomas J. Philipson & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 277-291, March. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Chen, Shaohua & Ravallion, Martin, 2007. "Absolute poverty measures for the developing world, 1981-2004," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4211, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  7. Ravallion, Martin, 2004. "Competing concepts of inequality in the globalization debate," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3243, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Coulter, Fiona A E & Cowell, Frank A & Jenkins, Stephen P, 1992. "Equivalence Scale Relativities and the Extent of Inequality and Poverty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(414), pages 1067-82, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2006. "The World Distribution of Income: Falling Poverty and ... Convergence, Period," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 121(2), pages 351-397, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Leite, Phillippe G. & Pereira da Silva, Luiz A. & Picchetti, Paulo, 2004. "Can the distributional impacts of macroeconomic shocks be predicted? A comparison of the performance of macro-micro models with historical data for Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3303, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  11. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Leite, Phillippe G. & Ravallion, Martin, 2007. "Poverty reduction without economic growth ? explaining Brazil's poverty dynamics, 1985-2004," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4431, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  12. Ravallion, Martin, 1995. "Growth and poverty: Evidence for developing countries in the 1980s," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(3-4), pages 411-417, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Ravallion, Martin, 1997. "Can high-inequality developing countries escape absolute poverty?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 51-57, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Bourguignon, Francois, 1979. "Decomposable Income Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 901-20, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 1996. "How Important to India's Poor Is the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth?," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, January.
  16. Pritchett, Lant, 1997. "Divergence, Big Time," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 3-17, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Misselhorn, Mark & Klasen, Stephan & Harttgen, Kenneth & Grimm, Michael, 2007. "A Human Development Index by Income Groups," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Göttingen 2007 12, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Branko Milanovic, 2006. "Economic Integration and Income Convergence: Not Such a Strong Link?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 659-670, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Anton Korinek & Johan Mistiaen & Martin Ravallion, 2006. "Survey nonresponse and the distribution of income," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 33-55, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Branko milanovic, 2003. "True world income distribution, 1988 and 1993: First calculation based on household surveys alo," HEW 0305002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  21. Chen, Shaohua & Ravallion, Martin, 2004. "How Have the World's Poorest Fared Since the Early 1980s?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3341, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  22. Daniel T. Slesnick, 1998. "Empirical Approaches to the Measurement of Welfare," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 2108-2165, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Lanjouw, Peter & Ravallion, Martin, 1995. "Poverty and Household Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(433), pages 1415-34, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Kakwani, Nanak, 1993. "Poverty and Economic Growth with Application to Cote d'Ivoire," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(2), pages 121-39, June.
  25. Shaohua Chen & Ravallion, Martin, 2000. "How did the world's poorest fare in the 1990s ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2409, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  26. François Bourguignon & Christian Morrisson, 2001. "Inequality among World Citizens : 1820-1992," DELTA Working Papers 2001-18, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
  27. Amparo Castello & Rafael Domenech, 2002. "Human Capital Inequality and Economic Growth: Some New Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(478), pages C187-C200, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 2002. "Why has economic growth been more pro-poor in some states of India than others?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 381-400, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  29. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 1997. "What Can New Survey Data Tell Us about Recent Changes in Distribution and Poverty?," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 357-82, May.
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  30. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1998. "Why Have Some Indian States Done Better Than Others at Reducing Rural Poverty?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 17-38, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  31. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-66, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Datt, Gaurav & Ravallion, Martin, 1992. "Growth and redistribution components of changes in poverty measures : A decomposition with applications to Brazil and India in the 1980s," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 275-295, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Bussolo, Maurizio & De Hoyos, Rafael E. & Medvedev, Denis, 2008. "Is the developing world catching up ? global convergence and national rising dispersion," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4733, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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