Growth, inequality and poverty: Looking beyond averages

The available evidence suggests that the poor in developing countries typic ally do share in the gains from rising aggregate affluence, and in the loss es from aggregate contraction. But there are large differences between coun tries in how much poor people share in growth, and there are diverse impact s among the poor in a given country. Crosscountry correlations are clouded in data problems, and undoubtedly hide welfare impacts; they can be decepti ve for development policy. There is a need for deeper micro empirical work on growth and distributional change. Only then will we have a firm basis fo r identifying the specific policies and programs that are needed to complem ent growth-oriented policies. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.