Economic growth, income inequality and poverty reduction : a regional comparative analysis

Abstract

This study examines and compares the implications of economic growth on poverty and income inequality among 76 countries across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), South and East Asia (SEA), Latin American countries (LAC) and the OECD region for the period 1990 to 2010. The results using SYS-GMM estimator leads to some interesting findings. We find that economic growth has led to reduction in both income and human poverty levels in all developing regions. We also find that, economic growth translates into little poverty reduction in all the regions when income inequality is high than when it is low. The results also show that economic growth significantly reduced income inequality in SSA. However, growth led to increase in income inequality in LAC and the OCED region.