Kanbur, Ravi2017-08-282017-08-282008https://hdl.handle.net/10986/28017In the last two decades, across a range of countries high growth rates have reduced poverty but have been accompanied by rising inequality. This paper is motivated by this stylized fact, and by the strong distributional concerns that persist among populations and policy makers alike, despite the poverty reduction observed in official statistics where growth has been sufficiently high. This seeming disconnects frames the questions posed in this paper. Why the disconnect, and what to do about it? It is argued that official poverty statistics may be missing key elements of the ground level reality of distributional evolution, of which rising inequality may be an indirect indicator. Heterogeneity of population means that there may be significant numbers of poor losers from technical change, economic reform and global integration, even when overall measured poverty falls. In terms of actions, attention is drawn to the role of safety nets as generalized compensation mechanisms, to address the ethical and political economy dimensions of such a pattern of distributional evolution. Addressing structural inequalities is also a long term answer with payoffs in terms of equitable growth. In terms of future analysis, diminishing returns have set in to the inequality-growth cross-country regressions literature. Further work to help policy makers should focus on: (i) new information to illuminate the disconnect; (ii) analysis and assessment of safety nets as generalized compensation mechanisms; and (iii) addressing specific forms of structural inequality related to assets, gender, and social groupings like caste or ethnicity.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYASSET INEQUALITYAVERAGE GROWTHCASH TRANSFERSCIVIL SOCIETYCLIMATE CHANGECOMPENSATORY POLICIESCONFLICTCOUNTERFACTUALCOUNTRY CASECOUNTRY DATACOUNTRY LEVELCOUNTRY REGRESSIONSCREDIT MARKETCROSS-COUNTRY DATACROSS-COUNTRY REGRESSIONCROSS-COUNTRY STUDIESDATA SETDECLINING INEQUALITYDECLINING POVERTYDECOMPOSABLE POVERTY MEASURESDECREASING INEQUALITYDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT PRACTITIONERSDEVELOPMENT REPORTDIMINISHING RETURNSDISTRIBUTION DATADISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGEDISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGESDISTRIBUTIONAL CONCERNSDISTRIBUTIONAL OUTCOMESDISTRIBUTIVE POLITICSECONOMETRIC ANALYSISECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC ANALYSISECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC INEQUALITYECONOMIC LITERATUREECONOMIC POLICYECONOMIC REFORMECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMICSECONOMICS LETTERSECONOMICS LITERATUREEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL LITERATUREEMPIRICAL STUDIESEMPIRICAL WORKEMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEMEENDOGENOUS GROWTHENDOGENOUS GROWTH MODELEQUAL DISTRIBUTIONEXCHANGE RATEEXCHANGE RATE POLICYEXTERNAL SHOCKSFACTOR ENDOWMENTSFALLING POVERTYFARMERSFIXED EFFECTSFOOD CONSUMPTIONFOOD POLICYFOOD SUBSIDIESFOREIGN TRADEGENDER GAPSGENDER INEQUALITYGINI COEFFICIENTGINI INDEXGLOBAL ECONOMYGLOBAL POVERTYGROUP INEQUALITIESGROUP INEQUALITYGROUP MEANSGROWTH EFFECTGROWTH MODELGROWTH PERFORMANCEGROWTH PROCESSGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESHEAD COUNT RATIOHEADCOUNT RATIOHIGH GROWTHHIGH INEQUALITYHIGH-INEQUALITY DEVELOPING COUNTRIESHOUSEHOLD COMPOSITIONHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENTIMPACT ON POVERTYIMPORT TARIFFSINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINCOMEINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME DISTRIBUTION DATAINCOME DISTRIBUTIONSINCOME GAINSINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME POVERTYINCOME TRANSFERINCOMESINCREASING INEQUALITYINDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIESINEQUALITYINEQUALITY DECLINESINEQUALITY DYNAMICSINEQUALITY MEASUREINEQUALITY MEASURESINEQUALITY WILLINEQUALITY-DEVELOPMENT RELATIONSHIPINSURANCEINTERNATIONAL AGENCIESINTERNATIONAL TRADEINTRAHOUSEHOLD INEQUALITYLABOR MARKETLAND INEQUALITYLONG RUNLONG-RUN PERSPECTIVELOWERING GROWTH RATESMARKET FAILURESMEAN DIFFERENCESMEAN INCOMEMEASURED INEQUALITYMEASURING INCOME INEQUALITYMICRO DATAMINIMUM LEVELMORAL HAZARDMORTALITY RATESNATIONAL POVERTYNATURAL RESOURCESNEGATIVE EFFECTNEGATIVE RELATIONSHIPNEW GROWTH THEORIESOLD ISSUESOPEN ECONOMIESPOINT ESTIMATESPOLICY CHANGESPOLICY INSTRUMENTPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY MAKINGPOLICY MEASURESPOLICY PACKAGEPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY VARIABLESPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOORPOOR COUNTRIESPOOR PEOPLEPOOR POPULATIONPOPULATION GROWTHPOSITIVE EFFECTPOSITIVE ROLEPOVERTY ALLEVIATIONPOVERTY ANALYSISPOVERTY DATAPOVERTY DEBATEPOVERTY DECLINEPOVERTY DECLINESPOVERTY DYNAMICSPOVERTY INCREASEPOVERTY INDICESPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY LINESPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASUREMENTPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY OUTCOMESPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY-REDUCING IMPACTPRIVATE SECTORPRO POORPRO POOR GROWTHPUBLIC ECONOMICSPUBLIC EMPLOYMENTPUBLIC GOODSPUBLIC WORKSRAPID GROWTHREAL INCOMEREDISTRIBUTIVE MEASURESREDUCED POVERTYREGIONAL INEQUALITYRELATIVE INEQUALITYRICH COUNTRIESRISING INEQUALITYRURALRURAL AREASRURAL EMPLOYMENTRURAL POORSAFETY NETSSANITATIONSAVING RATESAVINGSSERIES DATASIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPSOCIAL CAPITALSOCIAL CONFLICTSOCIAL NORMSSOCIAL POLICYTARGETINGTRADE LIBERALIZATIONTRADE OPENNESSTRADE POLICYTRANSITION ECONOMIESUNEQUAL DISTRIBUTIONWELL-BEINGWorking PaperWorld Bank10.1596/28017