A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality

Using a large cross-country income distribution dataset spanning close to 800 country-year observations from industrial and developing countries, the authors show that the size distribution of per capita income is well approximated empirically by a lognormal density. The 0 hypothesis that per capita...

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Main Authors: Lopez, J. Humberto, Servén, Luis
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/01/6525961/normal-relationship-poverty-growth-inequality
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8791
id okr-10986-8791
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-87912021-04-23T14:02:40Z A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality Lopez, J. Humberto Servén, Luis ABSOLUTE VALUE AGGREGATE GROWTH AGGREGATE INCOME AVERAGE INCOME AVERAGE INCOME GROWTH AVERAGE INCOMES AVERAGE LEVEL CONSUMPTION SMOOTHING COUNTRY INDEX COVARIANCE MATRIX CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES CROSS-COUNTRY INCOME DECLINING INEQUALITY DENSITY FUNCTION DEPENDENT VARIABLE DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGE DISTRIBUTIONAL TERM ECONOMICS ECONOMICS LITERATURE EFFECTIVE GROWTH ELASTICITY OF POVERTY EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE EMPIRICAL MODEL EMPIRICAL RESULTS EMPIRICAL WORK EQUAL COUNTRIES EQUAL WEIGHT ERROR TERM FUNCTIONAL FORM GINI COEFFICIENT GROSS INCOME GROWTH GROWTH COMPONENT GROWTH EFFECT GROWTH ELASTICITY GROWTH RATE GROWTH SPELLS HEADCOUNT POVERTY HEADCOUNT RATIO HETEROSKEDASTICITY HIGH INEQUALITY HIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIES HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INCOME DATA INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVELS INCOME REDISTRIBUTION INCOME SHARE INCOME SHARES INCOME SHORTFALL INCREASING INEQUALITY INDIVIDUAL INCOMES INEQUALITY AVERSION INEQUALITY CHANGES INEQUALITY EFFECT INEQUALITY ELASTICITY INTEREST RATE INTERVENTIONS LINEAR REGRESSIONS LOG INCOME LONG RUN LOW INCOME LOW INEQUALITY LOW INEQUALITY COUNTRIES LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES MEAN INCOME MEASUREMENT ERROR MIDDLE INCOME MINIMUM LEVEL NATIONAL ACCOUNTS NEGATIVE IMPACT NET INCOME NORMAL DISTRIBUTION 0 HYPOTHESIS OBSERVED CHANGE PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA EXPENDITURE PER CAPITA GROWTH PER CAPITA GROWTH RATE PER CAPITA INCOME PER CAPITA INCOME LEVELS PERSONAL INCOME POINT ESTIMATES POLICY MAKERS POLICY OBJECTIVE POLICY RESEARCH POOR POOR COUNTRIES POVERTY POVERTY CHANGES POVERTY DECLINES POVERTY GAP POVERTY HEADCOUNT POVERTY LINE POVERTY LINES POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY RATE POVERTY REDUCTION PROPORTIONATE CHANGES RANDOM EFFECTS RANDOM EFFECTS MODEL RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS RELATIVE IMPORTANCE RELATIVE INCOME RELATIVE INCOME DISTRIBUTION RELATIVE INCOMES RELATIVE POVERTY RELATIVE ROLE RESIDUAL TERM SIMULATIONS SQUARED POVERTY GAP STANDARD DEVIATION UNEQUAL COUNTRIES WEALTH Using a large cross-country income distribution dataset spanning close to 800 country-year observations from industrial and developing countries, the authors show that the size distribution of per capita income is well approximated empirically by a lognormal density. The 0 hypothesis that per capita income follows a lognormal distribution cannot be rejected-although the same hypothesis is unambiguously rejected when applied to per capita consumption. The authors show that lognormality of per capita income has important implications for the relative roles of income growth and inequality changes in poverty reduction. When poverty reduction is the overriding policy objective, poorer and relatively equal countries may be willing to tolerate modest increases in income inequality in exchange for faster growth-more so than richer and highly unequal countries. 2012-06-22T15:57:53Z 2012-06-22T15:57:53Z 2006-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/01/6525961/normal-relationship-poverty-growth-inequality http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8791 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3814 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ABSOLUTE VALUE
AGGREGATE GROWTH
AGGREGATE INCOME
AVERAGE INCOME
AVERAGE INCOME GROWTH
AVERAGE INCOMES
AVERAGE LEVEL
CONSUMPTION SMOOTHING
COUNTRY INDEX
COVARIANCE MATRIX
CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES
CROSS-COUNTRY INCOME
DECLINING INEQUALITY
DENSITY FUNCTION
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
DISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGE
DISTRIBUTIONAL TERM
ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS LITERATURE
EFFECTIVE GROWTH
ELASTICITY OF POVERTY
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
EMPIRICAL LITERATURE
EMPIRICAL MODEL
EMPIRICAL RESULTS
EMPIRICAL WORK
EQUAL COUNTRIES
EQUAL WEIGHT
ERROR TERM
FUNCTIONAL FORM
GINI COEFFICIENT
GROSS INCOME
GROWTH
GROWTH COMPONENT
GROWTH EFFECT
GROWTH ELASTICITY
GROWTH RATE
GROWTH SPELLS
HEADCOUNT POVERTY
HEADCOUNT RATIO
HETEROSKEDASTICITY
HIGH INEQUALITY
HIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIES
HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
INCOME DATA
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INCOME GROWTH
INCOME INEQUALITY
INCOME LEVELS
INCOME REDISTRIBUTION
INCOME SHARE
INCOME SHARES
INCOME SHORTFALL
INCREASING INEQUALITY
INDIVIDUAL INCOMES
INEQUALITY AVERSION
INEQUALITY CHANGES
INEQUALITY EFFECT
INEQUALITY ELASTICITY
INTEREST RATE
INTERVENTIONS
LINEAR REGRESSIONS
LOG INCOME
LONG RUN
LOW INCOME
LOW INEQUALITY
LOW INEQUALITY COUNTRIES
LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES
MEAN INCOME
MEASUREMENT ERROR
MIDDLE INCOME
MINIMUM LEVEL
NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
NEGATIVE IMPACT
NET INCOME
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
0 HYPOTHESIS
OBSERVED CHANGE
PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION
PER CAPITA EXPENDITURE
PER CAPITA GROWTH
PER CAPITA GROWTH RATE
PER CAPITA INCOME
PER CAPITA INCOME LEVELS
PERSONAL INCOME
POINT ESTIMATES
POLICY MAKERS
POLICY OBJECTIVE
POLICY RESEARCH
POOR
POOR COUNTRIES
POVERTY
POVERTY CHANGES
POVERTY DECLINES
POVERTY GAP
POVERTY HEADCOUNT
POVERTY LINE
POVERTY LINES
POVERTY MEASURE
POVERTY MEASURES
POVERTY RATE
POVERTY REDUCTION
PROPORTIONATE CHANGES
RANDOM EFFECTS
RANDOM EFFECTS MODEL
RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION
RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE
RELATIVE INCOME
RELATIVE INCOME DISTRIBUTION
RELATIVE INCOMES
RELATIVE POVERTY
RELATIVE ROLE
RESIDUAL TERM
SIMULATIONS
SQUARED POVERTY GAP
STANDARD DEVIATION
UNEQUAL COUNTRIES
WEALTH
spellingShingle ABSOLUTE VALUE
AGGREGATE GROWTH
AGGREGATE INCOME
AVERAGE INCOME
AVERAGE INCOME GROWTH
AVERAGE INCOMES
AVERAGE LEVEL
CONSUMPTION SMOOTHING
COUNTRY INDEX
COVARIANCE MATRIX
CROSS-COUNTRY DIFFERENCES
CROSS-COUNTRY INCOME
DECLINING INEQUALITY
DENSITY FUNCTION
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
DISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGE
DISTRIBUTIONAL TERM
ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS LITERATURE
EFFECTIVE GROWTH
ELASTICITY OF POVERTY
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
EMPIRICAL LITERATURE
EMPIRICAL MODEL
EMPIRICAL RESULTS
EMPIRICAL WORK
EQUAL COUNTRIES
EQUAL WEIGHT
ERROR TERM
FUNCTIONAL FORM
GINI COEFFICIENT
GROSS INCOME
GROWTH
GROWTH COMPONENT
GROWTH EFFECT
GROWTH ELASTICITY
GROWTH RATE
GROWTH SPELLS
HEADCOUNT POVERTY
HEADCOUNT RATIO
HETEROSKEDASTICITY
HIGH INEQUALITY
HIGH INEQUALITY COUNTRIES
HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS
INCOME DATA
INCOME DISTRIBUTION
INCOME GROWTH
INCOME INEQUALITY
INCOME LEVELS
INCOME REDISTRIBUTION
INCOME SHARE
INCOME SHARES
INCOME SHORTFALL
INCREASING INEQUALITY
INDIVIDUAL INCOMES
INEQUALITY AVERSION
INEQUALITY CHANGES
INEQUALITY EFFECT
INEQUALITY ELASTICITY
INTEREST RATE
INTERVENTIONS
LINEAR REGRESSIONS
LOG INCOME
LONG RUN
LOW INCOME
LOW INEQUALITY
LOW INEQUALITY COUNTRIES
LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES
MEAN INCOME
MEASUREMENT ERROR
MIDDLE INCOME
MINIMUM LEVEL
NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
NEGATIVE IMPACT
NET INCOME
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION
0 HYPOTHESIS
OBSERVED CHANGE
PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION
PER CAPITA EXPENDITURE
PER CAPITA GROWTH
PER CAPITA GROWTH RATE
PER CAPITA INCOME
PER CAPITA INCOME LEVELS
PERSONAL INCOME
POINT ESTIMATES
POLICY MAKERS
POLICY OBJECTIVE
POLICY RESEARCH
POOR
POOR COUNTRIES
POVERTY
POVERTY CHANGES
POVERTY DECLINES
POVERTY GAP
POVERTY HEADCOUNT
POVERTY LINE
POVERTY LINES
POVERTY MEASURE
POVERTY MEASURES
POVERTY RATE
POVERTY REDUCTION
PROPORTIONATE CHANGES
RANDOM EFFECTS
RANDOM EFFECTS MODEL
RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION
RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE
RELATIVE INCOME
RELATIVE INCOME DISTRIBUTION
RELATIVE INCOMES
RELATIVE POVERTY
RELATIVE ROLE
RESIDUAL TERM
SIMULATIONS
SQUARED POVERTY GAP
STANDARD DEVIATION
UNEQUAL COUNTRIES
WEALTH
Lopez, J. Humberto
Servén, Luis
A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality
relation Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3814
description Using a large cross-country income distribution dataset spanning close to 800 country-year observations from industrial and developing countries, the authors show that the size distribution of per capita income is well approximated empirically by a lognormal density. The 0 hypothesis that per capita income follows a lognormal distribution cannot be rejected-although the same hypothesis is unambiguously rejected when applied to per capita consumption. The authors show that lognormality of per capita income has important implications for the relative roles of income growth and inequality changes in poverty reduction. When poverty reduction is the overriding policy objective, poorer and relatively equal countries may be willing to tolerate modest increases in income inequality in exchange for faster growth-more so than richer and highly unequal countries.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Lopez, J. Humberto
Servén, Luis
author_facet Lopez, J. Humberto
Servén, Luis
author_sort Lopez, J. Humberto
title A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality
title_short A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality
title_full A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality
title_fullStr A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality
title_full_unstemmed A Normal Relationship? Poverty, Growth, and Inequality
title_sort normal relationship? poverty, growth, and inequality
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/01/6525961/normal-relationship-poverty-growth-inequality
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8791
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