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Using World Bank PovcalNet data from 1974-2018 for 135 countries, this paper approximates the identity that links growth in mean incomes and changes in the distribution of relative incomes to reductions in absolute poverty, and, in turn, examines the role of income inequality for poverty reduction. The analysis finds that the assumption that income is log-normally distributed allows one to approximate the identity well. Using this approximation, both the growth and inequality elasticities of poverty reduction are calculated. The inequality elasticity of poverty reduction is larger, on average, compared to the (absolute) growth elasticity of poverty reduction. Moreover, the (absolute) growth elasticity declines steeply with a country's initial level of inequality. However, despite these results, most of the observed changes in poverty can be explained by changes in mean incomes. This is a consequence of changes in income inequality (as measured by percentage changes in the standard deviation of log-income) being an order of magnitude smaller than changes in mean incomes. Overall, the results highlight the important role income inequality can play in reducing poverty even if prior poverty changes have, in large part, been a consequence of economic growth.

Elasticity --- Headcount --- Inequality --- Mean Income --- Poverty --- Poverty Diagnostics --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Monitoring and Analysis --- Poverty Rate

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This paper contributes to the analysis of spatial poverty in Ecuador by deepening the understanding of the constraints faced by the poor in the country through an investigation of the role of portable characteristics (human capital) and geography in explaining welfare. At the national level, the results indicate that these characteristics explain 72 percent of the differences in welfare level between urban and rural areas, while returns to these characteristics account for 28 percent of the difference. Comparing a leading and a lagging region, such as the coast versus the Amazon, the characteristics explain about 90 percent of the welfare differential in urban areas, while the returns explain about 30 percent of the welfare differential in rural areas. Among the characteristics analyzed, education is the most important variable for explaining differences in living conditions between urban and rural areas in Ecuador.

Economic growth --- Economic shocks --- Extreme poverty --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Human capital --- Income --- Inequality --- Macroeconomic stabilization --- Poor --- Poor areas --- Poor households --- Population Policies --- Poverty Assessment --- Poverty line --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Reduction --- Poverty reduction strategies --- Regional Economic Development --- Rural --- Rural areas --- Rural Development --- Rural poverty --- Rural poverty rate --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Rural sector --- Sanitation

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This paper contributes to the analysis of spatial poverty in Ecuador by deepening the understanding of the constraints faced by the poor in the country through an investigation of the role of portable characteristics (human capital) and geography in explaining welfare. At the national level, the results indicate that these characteristics explain 72 percent of the differences in welfare level between urban and rural areas, while returns to these characteristics account for 28 percent of the difference. Comparing a leading and a lagging region, such as the coast versus the Amazon, the characteristics explain about 90 percent of the welfare differential in urban areas, while the returns explain about 30 percent of the welfare differential in rural areas. Among the characteristics analyzed, education is the most important variable for explaining differences in living conditions between urban and rural areas in Ecuador.

Economic growth --- Economic shocks --- Extreme poverty --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Human capital --- Income --- Inequality --- Macroeconomic stabilization --- Poor --- Poor areas --- Poor households --- Population Policies --- Poverty Assessment --- Poverty line --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Reduction --- Poverty reduction strategies --- Regional Economic Development --- Rural --- Rural areas --- Rural Development --- Rural poverty --- Rural poverty rate --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Rural sector --- Sanitation

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According to the official statistics published by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, the country registered a decline in poverty from 46 percent in 2010/11 to 39 percent in 2013/14. This declining poverty trend was broadly debated and repeatedly questioned in national and international forums, which provided the primary motivation for this study. Using data from the third and fourth rounds of the Integrated Household Living Conditions Surveys, this paper revisits the national poverty numbers and corroborates the poverty rates published by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. Underlying the paper's conclusions is a detailed theoretical and analytical framework for making poverty comparisons over time. Furthermore, the paper shows that after adjusting for spatial and temporal price differences, the poverty rate based on the international poverty line of USD 1.90 per day per capita shows that there was a reduction in poverty between 2010/11 and 2013/14.

Food Security --- Inequality --- Inflation --- Labor & Employment Law --- Law and Development --- Living Conditions --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty --- Poverty Assessment --- Poverty Diagnostics --- Poverty Impact Evaluation --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Monitoring & Analysis --- Poverty Rate --- Poverty Reduction --- Prices --- Small Area Estimation Poverty Maps --- Welfare Monitoring

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May 2000 - The poor suffer more from inflation than the rich do, reveals this survey of poor people in 38 countries. Using polling data for 31,869 households in 38 countries and allowing for country effects, Easterly and Fischer show that the poor are more likely than the rich to mention inflation as a top national concern. This result survives several robustness checks. Also, direct measures of improvements in well-being for the poor - the change in their share of national income, the percentage decline in poverty, and the percentage change in the real minimum wage - are negatively correlated with inflation in pooled cross-country samples. High inflation tends to lower the share of the bottom quintile and the real minimum wage - and tends to increase poverty. This paper - a joint product of Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group, and the International Monetary Fund - is part of a larger effort to study the effects of macroeconomic policies on growth and poverty.

Access to Markets --- Bank --- Bonds --- Checks --- Cred Education --- Currencies and Exchange Rates --- Debt Markets --- Economic Theory and Research --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Instruments --- Financial Literacy --- Health Indicators --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- ICT Applications --- ICT for Health --- Income --- Incomes --- Inflation --- Information and Communication Technologies --- International Economics & Trade --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Markets and Market Access --- Minimum Wage --- Money --- Pensions --- Poverty Rate --- Poverty Rates --- Probabilities --- Research Assistance --- Stocks --- Subsidies --- Unemployment --- Wages