Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Measurement Issues using Income and Non-Income Indicators

Abstract

This paper first reviews the debate on the definition of pro-poor growth and argues that a relative definition has merits when defining the state of pro-poor growth, while an absolute definition is most suitable when analyzing the rate of pro-poor growth. The second contribution is to extend the pro-poor growth toolbox to non-income indicators. The analysis, applied to Bolivia, shows that this extension greatly improves our understanding of the distribution of change in non-income indicators, of the linkages between progress in income and non-income dimensions of poverty, and on the incidence of progress in non-income outcomes along the income distribution.