Ravallion, Martin2012-05-252012-05-252008-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6465At the outset of China's reform period, the country had a far higher poverty rate than for Africa as a whole. Within five years that was no longer true. This paper tries to explain how China escaped from a situation in which extreme poverty persisted due to failed and unpopular policies. While acknowledging that Africa faces constraints that China did not, and that context matters, two lessons stand out. The first is the importance of productivity growth in smallholder agriculture, which will require both market-based incentives and public support. The second is the role played by strong leadership and a capable public administration at all levels of government.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYABUSEADULT MORTALITYAGGREGATE OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTAGRICULTURAL GROWTHAGRICULTURAL OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITYAGRICULTURAL RESEARCHAGRICULTURAL SECTORANTI-POVERTYAVERAGE GROWTHAVERAGE GROWTH RATEBASIC EDUCATIONBASIC INFRASTRUCTUREBIRTH RATESBLUEPRINTCHILDREN PER COUPLECITIZENSCOLLECTIVE FARMINGCOLLECTIVE FARMSCOLLECTIVE LANDCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPARISON GROUPCONFLICTCOUNTRY DATACROP LANDCULTURAL CHANGECURRENT POPULATIONDEATH RATESDEMOCRACYDEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITIONDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRYDEVELOPING WORLDDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT POLICIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHDEVELOPMENT STRATEGYDISSEMINATIONDISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGEDISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC LITERATUREECONOMIC POLICIESECONOMIC POLICYECONOMIC REFORMEXCHANGE RATEEXTERNAL TRADEEXTREME POVERTYFAMILY PLANNINGFAMINEFARM GROWTHFARM OUTPUTFARM PRODUCTIVITYFARM SECTORFARMERSFARMING SYSTEMSFARMLANDFERTILITYFERTILITY POLICIESFERTILITY RATESFIGHT AGAINST POVERTYFIXED EFFECTSFOOD AVAILABILITYFOOD INSECURITYFOOD OUTPUTFOOD POLICYFOOD PRICESFOOD SECURITYFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTFOREIGN POLICYFUTURE GROWTHGEOGRAPHIC POVERTY TRAPSGINI INDEXGLOBAL ECONOMYGLOBAL LEVELGLOBAL POVERTYGROWTH PROCESSGROWTH PROSPECTSGROWTH RATE IN AGRICULTUREGROWTH RATESHEALTH CAREHIGH INEQUALITYHIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIESHIGHER INEQUALITYHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD WELFAREHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENTIMPACT ON POVERTYINCOMEINCOME GROUPSINCOME GROWTHINCOME INEQUALITYINDIVIDUAL FARMERSINDUSTRIAL SECTORINDUSTRIALIZATIONINEQUALITYINEQUALITY MEASURESINEQUITIESINFANTINFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTINTERNATIONAL COMMUNITYINTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTELABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLANDHOLDINGSLARGE CITIESLEVEL OF FERTILITYLIVING STANDARDSLONG-RUN GROWTHLOW FARM PRODUCTIVITYLOW INEQUALITYLOWER FERTILITYMACROECONOMIC INSTABILITYMACROECONOMIC STABILITYMACROECONOMIC STABILIZATIONMARGINAL PRODUCTMARKET ECONOMYMEAN INCOMEMIGRANTMIGRATIONMINORITYMORTALITYNATIONAL FERTILITYNATIONAL POVERTYNATIONAL POVERTY LINENATURAL DEATHNATURAL RESOURCESNUMBER OF PEOPLEPACE OF URBANIZATIONPEACEPOLICY CHANGEPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY MESSAGESPOLICY REFORMSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL CHANGEPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLITICAL LEADERSHIPPOLITICAL OPPORTUNITYPOLITICAL POWERPOORPOOR COUNTRIESPOOR PEOPLEPOOR POLICIESPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENTPOPULATION DENSITYPOPULATION GROWTHPOPULATION GROWTH RATEPOPULATION SHAREPOPULOUS COUNTRYPOST-REFORMPOVERTY DEBATEPOVERTY DYNAMICSPOVERTY IMPACTPOVERTY INCIDENCEPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCINGPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRO-POORPRO-POOR GROWTHPROGRESSPUBLIC INVESTMENTPUBLIC SPENDINGPUBLIC SUPPORTPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYRAPID GROWTHRATE OF GROWTHREDUCED INEQUALITYREDUCED POVERTYREDUCING POVERTYRELATIVE PRICESRESOURCE FLOWSRESPECTRURALRURAL AREASRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL DIMENSIONRURAL ECONOMIC GROWTHRURAL ECONOMIC REFORMSRURAL ECONOMYRURAL HINTERLANDRURAL INCOMERURAL INFRASTRUCTURERURAL LABORRURAL POLICIESRURAL POORRURAL POPULATIONRURAL POVERTYRURAL WORKERSSECTORAL PRIORITIESSMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURESMALLHOLDERSSOCIAL POLICYSOCIAL SCIENCESSOCIAL SERVICESSPILLOVERSTATE CAPACITYSTRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTTECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONTRADE NEGOTIATIONSTRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGEUNSKILLED LABORURBAN AREASURBAN POPULATIONURBANIZATIONWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4463