Poverty and growth: lessons from 40 years of data on India's poor

Poverty and growth: Lessons from 40 years of data on India's poor Despite years of debate, the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction is still far from clear. Data are part of the problem--comparable and consistent information is hard to come by for many developing countries. Data from India, however, reveal patterns from the past--and lessons for the future. There has been much debate about how to study the determinants of India's progress HOW MUCH DO much poor people share in economic growth. in reducing poverty. The results contain POOR PEOPLE Some analysts argue that in developing coun- important lessons for India and for other tries distribution must get worse before it gets countries that have followed similar develop- SHARE IN better. Some even argue that "pro-poor" eco- ment strategies. This note describes the main ECONOMIC nomic growth is nearly impossible during the results of this research. early stages of an economic take-off. GROWTH? These debates have taken on new urgency Measuring poverty in India as a result of macroeconomic difficulties and adjustment efforts in many developing coun- To investigate the relationship between tries. They are hard to resolve empirically, growth and poverty, the project constructed a partly because of the paucity of sound data on set of consistent estimates of various poverty the living standards of poor people in devel- measures for India for 1951