Title: Determinants of the Growth Elasticity of Poverty Reduction. Why the Impact on Poverty Reduction is Large in Some Developing Countries and Small in Others
Abstract: Objectives
The goal of this paper is to revisit the research field, whether and to which extent economic growth is important for poverty reduction in developing countries, using extended data sets and looking for intervening or supporting determinants for the growth-poverty relationship. The topic gained renewed interest against critics that growth had not reduced poverty significantly in the past , and may not be an overarching priority as argued in some studies on development and in the zero growth literature.
Because the differences of the extent to which countries with high growth rates achieve poverty reduction remain elusive, it seems desirable to discover the factors that determine the growth elasticity of poverty, the extent to which growth reduces poverty. The paper examines differences for regions and income groups, for the impact of growth on poverty reduction. This study does not simply summarize and conclude on the research already conducted, rather, it is an effort to contribute to the body of knowledge on the growth elasticity of poverty.
Data/Methods
This study investigates the determinants of the growth elasticity of poverty by using the internationally designed poverty line, measured by the share of the population living below $ 1.25 per day. We identify the determinants of changes in the poverty rate of countries using single and multiple Ordinary Least Squares regressions as well as Fixed Effects. Secondary data is drawn from a variety of sources such as the World dataBank, Barro Lee Educational Attainment Dataset, Penn World Table. Data adjustments resulted in a sample of 268 observations including 65 developing countries between 1983 and 2009.
Results
The main result is that growth in GDP per capita is in fact one of the important and significant contributors to reductions in poverty, particularly in the long run and for low income countries (otherwise the elasticity is independent of the region in which growth occurs). The second ...
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-11-17
Language: en
Type: preprint
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 5
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