Growth is Good for the Poor

Dollar, David ; Kraay, Aart

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY;    AGRICULTURE;    ANNUAL CHANGE;    ANNUAL GROWTH;    ANNUAL OBSERVATIONS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2587
RP-ID  :  WPS2587

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

When average income rises, the averageincomes of the poorest fifth of society riseproportionately. This is a consequence of the strongempirical regularity that the share of income accruing tothe bottom quintile does not vary systematically withaverage income. The authors document this empiricalregularity in a sample of 92 countries spanning the pastfour decades and show that it holds across regions, periods,income levels, and growth rates. The authors next askwhether the factors that explain cross-country differencesin the growth rates of average incomes have differentialeffects on the poorest fifth of society. They find thatseveral determinants of growth--such as good rule of law,opennness to international trade, and developed financialmarkets--have little systematic effect on the share ofincome that accrues to the bottom quintile. Consequently,these factors benefit the poorest fifth of society as muchas everyone else. Thee is some weak evidence thatstabilization from high inflation and reductions in theoverall size of government not only increase growth but alsoincrease the income share of the poorest fifth in society.Finally, the authors examine several factors commonlythought to disproportionately benefit the poorest insociety, but find little evidence of their effects. Theabsence of robust findings emphasizes that relatively littleis known about the broad forces that account for thecross-country and intertemporal variation in the share ofincome accruing to the poorest fifth of society.