Kraay, Aart2013-08-012013-08-012004-02https://hdl.handle.net/10986/14731Growth is pro-poor if the poverty measure of interest falls. According to this definition there are three potential sources of pro-poor growth: (1) a high rate of growth of average incomes; (2) a high sensitivity of poverty to growth in average incomes; and (3) a poverty-reducing pattern of growth in relative incomes. The author empirically decomposes changes in poverty in a large sample of developing countries during the 1980s and 1990s into these three components. In the medium to long run, most of the variation in changes in poverty can be attributed to growth in average incomes, suggesting that policies and institutions that promote broad-based growth should be central to the pro-poor growth agenda. Most of the remainder of the variation in poverty is due to poverty-reducing patterns of growth in relative incomes, rather than differences in the sensitivity of poverty to growth in average incomes. Cross-country evidence provides relatively little guidance as to the policies and institutions that promote these other sources of pro-poor growth.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOECONOMIC GROWTH THEORIESPOVERTY MITIGATIONPOVERTYPOOR PEOPLELOW INCOME PEOPLEPOVERTY GAPINEQUALITYINEQUALITY REDUCTIONABSOLUTE POVERTY ABSOLUTE POVERTYABSOLUTE VALUEADVERSE EFFECTSANNUAL CHANGEANNUAL GROWTHANNUAL GROWTH RATEAVERAGE ANNUALAVERAGE GROWTHAVERAGE GROWTH RATEAVERAGE INCOMEAVERAGE INCOME GROWTHAVERAGE INCOMESCOUNTRY COVERAGECROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCESDECOMPOSITION TECHNIQUESDEPENDENT VARIABLEDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDISTRIBUTION COMPONENTDISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGEELASTICITYEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL GROWTH LITERATUREEMPIRICAL LITERATUREEMPIRICAL REGULARITYEMPIRICAL SECTIONEXPLAINING CHANGESEXPLANATORY POWEREXPLANATORY VARIABLESFINANCIAL CRISISFUNCTIONAL FORMGINI COEFFICIENTGINI INDEXGROWTH COMPONENTGROWTH EFFECTGROWTH PRO-POORGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESHIGH SENSITIVITYHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOMES INCREASEINCREASED INEQUALITYINDIVIDUAL INCOMESINEQUALITY AVERSIONINEQUALITY MEASUREINEQUALITY MEASURESINSTITUTIONAL QUALITYINTERNATIONAL TRADELONG RUNMACROECONOMIC POLICIESMEAN INCOMEMEAN INCOMESMEAN VALUEMEASUREMENT ERRORNEGATIVE GROWTHNEGATIVE RELATIONSHIPOBSERVED CHANGESPOLICY PACKAGEPOLICY RESEARCHPOOR GROWTH STRATEGIESPOOR PEOPLEPOVERTY CHANGESPOVERTY GAPPOVERTY INDEXPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOWER PARITYPRO- POORPRO- POOR GROWTHPRO-POOR GROWTHPROPERTY RIGHTSPROPORTIONAL CHANGEPROPORTIONATE CHANGESPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYRANDOM VARIABLESRAPID GROWTHREDUCING INEQUALITYRELATIVE IMPORTANCERELATIVE INCOMERELATIVE INCOMESRELATIVE POVERTYRESIDUAL TERMSHORT-RUN CHANGESSIGNIFICANT NEGATIVESQUARED POVERTY GAPSTANDARD DEVIATIONWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3225