Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/54128
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2010/92
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
The present study examines the degree to which income distribution affects the ability of economic growth to reduce poverty, based on 1990s data for a sample of rural and urban sectors of African economies. Using the basic needs approach, an analysis-of-covariance model is derived and estimated, with the headcount, gap and squared gap poverty ratios serving as the respective dependent variables and the Gini coefficient and PPP-adjusted incomes as explanatory variables. The study finds that the responsiveness of poverty to income growth is a decreasing function of inequality, albeit at varying rates for the three poverty measures: lowest for the headcount, followed by the gap and fastest for the squared gap. The ranges for the income elasticity in the sample are estimated at: 0.02-0.68, 0.11-1.05 and 0.10-1.35, respectively, for these poverty measures. Furthermore while, on average, the responsiveness of poverty to income growth appears to be the same between the rural and urban sectors, there are substantial sectoral differences across countries. The results suggest the need for country-specific emphases on growth relative to inequality, with special attention accorded the possible rural-urban dichotomy.
Subjects: 
Income distribution
income growth
poverty
rural and urban African economies
JEL: 
D31
I32
O49
ISBN: 
978-92-9230-330-3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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