WHAT CAN NEW SURVEY DATA TELL US ABOUT RECENT CHANGES IN DISTRIBUTIONAND POVERTY

It has been claimed that in recent times the poor have lost ground, bo th relatively and absolutely, evert when average levels of living have risen. This article tests that claim using household surveys for 67 d eveloping and transitional economies over 1981-94. It finds that chang es in inequality and polarization were uncorrelated with changes in av erage living standards. Distribution improved as often as it worsened in growing economies, and negative growth was often more detrimental t o distribution than positive growth. Overall, there was a small decrea se in absolute poverty, although with diverse experiences across regio ns and countries. Almost always, poverty fell with growth in average l iving standards and rose with contraction.