Ravallion, Martin2012-06-212012-06-212005-08https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8625It has been argued that inequality should be of little concern in poor countries on the grounds that (1) absolute poverty in terms of consumption (or income) is the overriding issue in poor countries, and (2) the only thing that really matters to reducing absolute income poverty is the rate of economic growth. The author takes (1) as given but questions (2). He argues that there are a number of ways in which the extent of inequality in a society, and how it evolves over time, influences the extent of poverty today and the prospects for rapid poverty reduction in the future.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYABSOLUTE VALUEADVERSE IMPACTAGGREGATE GROWTHAGGREGATE OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL GROWTHANNUAL GROWTHANNUAL GROWTH RATEANNUAL RATEAVERAGE INCOMEAVERAGE INEQUALITYBALANCED GROWTHCAPITAL MARKETCAPITAL MARKET FAILURESCHANGING INCOME DISTRIBUTIONCONSUMPTION GROWTHCOUNTRY LEVELCREDIT MARKETCROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONSCUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTIONCUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONDATA ISSUESDATA SETSDATA SOURCESDENSITY FUNCTIONDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRYDEVELOPING WORLDDEVELOPMENT INDICATORSDEVELOPMENT REPORTDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHDEVELOPMENT STUDIESDISTRIBUTIONAL DATADISTRIBUTIONAL TERMECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC CONTRACTIONECONOMIC GROWTHEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPEQUITABLE DISTRIBUTIONEXTERNALITIESEXTREME POVERTYFINANCIAL CRISISGINI INDEXGROWING ECONOMYGROWTH COMPONENTGROWTH ELASTICITYGROWTH EPISODESGROWTH INCIDENCEGROWTH PROCESSGROWTH PROSPECTSGROWTH RATESHEADCOUNT INDEXHIGH GROWTHHIGH INEQUALITYHIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIESHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSINCOME DISPARITIESINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME GROWTHINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME POVERTYINEQUALITY CHANGESINEQUALITY FALLSINEQUALITY INDEXINEQUALITY MEASUREINEQUALITY MEASURESINEQUALITY WILLINFLATIONLIVING STANDARDSLOCAL LEVELLOG GINILOW INEQUALITYMACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTMACROECONOMIC INSTABILITYMARKET ECONOMYMARKET FAILURESMEAN CONSUMPTIONMEAN GROWTHMEAN INCOMEMEAN INCOMESMEASUREMENT ERRORMEASUREMENT ERRORSMORAL HAZARDNATIONAL ACCOUNTSPER CAPITA INCOMEPOINT DECLINEPOLICY CHANGESPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY REFORMSPOLICY RESEARCHPOOR AREASPOOR COUNTRIESPOOR PEOPLEPOSITIVE CORRELATIONPOVERTY ANALYSISPOVERTY GAPPOVERTY IMPACTPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY RISESPOVERTY-REDUCING IMPACTPRIVATE CONSUMPTIONPRIVATE PRODUCTIONPRO-POORPRO-POOR GROWTHPROPORTIONATE CHANGESPUBLIC GOODSPUBLIC INFRASTRUCTUREPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYRAPID GROWTHREAL TERMSREDUCED INEQUALITYREDUCING INEQUALITYREDUCING POVERTYREGIONAL DISPARITIESRELATIVE INEQUALITYRELATIVE POVERTYRELATIVE PRICESRESEARCH FINDINGSRISING INEQUALITYRURAL AREASRURAL POVERTYSECTORAL COMPOSITIONSERIAL CORRELATIONSHARP REDUCTIONSIGNIFICANT CORRELATIONSOCIAL SERVICESTRADE REGIMEURBAN AREASWEALTHWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3677