IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mos/moswps/2016-09.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Growth, Urbanization and Poverty Reduction in India

Author

Listed:
  • Gaurav Datt
  • Martin Ravallion
  • Rinku Murgai

Abstract

Longstanding development issues are revisited in the light of our newly-constructed dataset of poverty measures for India spanning 60 years, including 20 years since reforms began in earnest in 1991. We find a downward trend in poverty measures since 1970, with an acceleration post-1991, despite rising inequality. Faster poverty decline came with both higher growth and a more pro-poor pattern of growth. Post-1991 data suggest stronger inter-sectoral linkages: urban consumption growth brought gains to the rural as well as the urban poor and the primary-secondary-tertiary composition of growth has ceased to matter as all three sectors contributed to poverty reduction.

Suggested Citation

  • Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion & Rinku Murgai, 2016. "Growth, Urbanization and Poverty Reduction in India," Monash Economics Working Papers 09-16, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2016-09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/926009/0916povertygrowthIndiadattravallionmurgai.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2005. "ERRATUM: Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in a Poor World)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(2), pages 395-395, May.
    2. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen & Prem Sangraula, 2007. "New Evidence on the Urbanization of Global Poverty," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 667-701, December.
    3. Himanshu (No last name available), 2013. "Poverty and Food Security in India," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 369, Asian Development Bank.
    4. Ravallion, Martin & Datt, Gaurav, 1996. "How Important to India's Poor Is the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, January.
    5. Robinson, Sherman, 1976. "A Note on the U Hypothesis Relating Income Inequality and Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 437-440, June.
    6. World Bank, 2015. "World Development Indicators 2015," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21634.
    7. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    8. 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.
    9. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion, 1998. "Farm productivity and rural poverty in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 62-85.
    10. Hanan G. Jacoby & Basab Dasgupta, 2018. "Changing wage structure in India in the post-reform era: 1993–2011," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, December.
    11. Bhagwati, Jagdish, 1993. "India in Transition: Freeing the Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288473.
    12. Ashok Kotwal & Bharat Ramaswami & Wilima Wadhwa, 2011. "Economic Liberalization and Indian Economic Growth: What's the Evidence?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1152-1199, December.
    13. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1994. "Why Poverty Persists in India: A Framework for Understanding the Indian Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195632385.
    14. repec:bla:revinw:v:39:y:1993:i:2:p:121-39 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. repec:pri:rpdevs:deaton_dreze_poverty_india is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gaurav Datt & Martin Ravallion & Rinku Murgai, 2020. "Poverty and Growth in India over Six Decades," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(1), pages 4-27, January.
    2. Azam, Mehtabul, 2017. "Are Urban-Rural Welfare Differences Growing in India?," IZA Discussion Papers 11174, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Shantanu Khanna & Deepti Goel & René Morissette, 2016. "Decomposition analysis of earnings inequality in rural India: 2004–2012," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, December.
    4. Emran, M. Shahe & Shilpi, Forhad, 2015. "Gender, Geography, and Generations: Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Post-Reform India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 362-380.
    5. Sinha Roy, Sutirtha & van der Weide, Roy, 2025. "Estimating poverty for India after 2011 using private-sector survey data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    6. Martin Ravallion, 2011. "A Comparative Perspective on Poverty Reduction in Brazil, China, and India," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 26(1), pages 71-104, February.
    7. L. Alan Winters & Shahid Yusuf, 2007. "Dancing with the Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6632.
    8. Peter Lanjouw & Rinku Murgai, 2009. "Poverty decline, agricultural wages, and nonfarm employment in rural India: 1983–2004," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 243-263, March.
    9. Sanjay G. Reddy & Camelia Minoiu, 2005. "Has world poverty really fallen during the 1990s?," Development and Comp Systems 0509005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Angus Deaton & Valerie Kozel, 2005. "Data and Dogma: The Great Indian Poverty Debate," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 20(2), pages 177-199.
    11. Chaudhuri, Shubham & Ravallion, Martin, 2006. "Partially awakened giants : uneven growth in China and India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4069, The World Bank.
    12. Rui Benfica & Heath Henderson, 2021. "The Effect of the Sectoral Composition of Economic Growth on Rural and Urban Poverty," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(1), pages 248-284, March.
    13. Azam, Mehtabul, 2019. "Accounting for growing urban-rural welfare gaps in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 410-432.
    14. Pradeep Agrawal, 2015. "Reducing Poverty in India The Role of Economic Growth," IEG Working Papers 349, Institute of Economic Growth.
    15. 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.
    16. Temple, Jonathan & Ying, Huikang, 2014. "Life During Structural Transformation," CEPR Discussion Papers 10297, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Odusola, Ayodele, "undated". "Agriculture, Rural Poverty and Income Inequality in sub-Saharan Africa," UNDP Africa Economists Working Papers 266998, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    18. Olu Ajakaiye & Afeikhena T. Jerome & David Nabena & Olufunke A. Alaba, 2015. "Understanding the relationship between growth and employment in Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series 124, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Bourguignon, Francois & Morrisson, Christian, 1998. "Inequality and development: the role of dualism," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 233-257.
    20. Narayanamoorthy, A. & Hanjra, Munir A., 2010. "What Contributes to Disparity in Rural-Urban Poverty in Tamil Nadu?: A District Level Analysis," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 65(2), pages 1-17.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2016-09. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Simon Angus (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dxmonau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.