Measuring Pro-poor Growth in Countries of Asia

Adeniran ADEBOYE

Master's thesis

Measuring and analysing pro-poor growth in counirtes of Asia

Abstract:

This study examined the measures of pro-poor growth in twenty-one Asian countries with a particular focus on growth spells after the 2007/2008 global economic crisis. Using the latest available distributional data from the World Bank's PovcalNet database, five pro-poor growth measures were calculated: the pro-poor growth index, poverty-equivalent growth rate, rate of pro-poor growth, growth rate of the income of the poorest 20th percentile of the population, and the growth incidence curve. The Distributive Analysis Stata Package (DASP) was used to decompose the data and compute the pro-poor growth measures. The results suggested that eleven countries (Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China (Urban), India, Indonesia, Lao, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Turkey) can be classified as having trickle-down growth while nine countries (Georgia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and China (Urban) were classified as having relative pro-poor growth. In addition, strong pro-poor growth was found in Iran while Israel was inconclusive. In summary, the study provided evidence in support of Asian countries' economic growth being pro-poor after the global financial crisis. The study suggested that a mixed approach to evaluating pro-poor growth be adopted such that the results from both absolute and relative measures are compared.

Abstract:

This study examined the measures of pro-poor growth in twenty-one Asian countries with a particular focus on growth spells after the 2007/2008 global economic crisis. Using the latest available distributional data from the World Bank's PovcalNet database, five pro-poor growth measures were calculated: the pro-poor growth index, poverty-equivalent growth rate, rate of pro-poor growth, growth rate of the income of the poorest 20th percentile of the population, and the growth incidence curve. The Distributive Analysis Stata Package (DASP) was used to decompose the data and compute the pro-poor growth measures. The results suggested that eleven countries (Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China (Urban), India, Indonesia, Lao, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Turkey) can be classified as having trickle-down growth while nine countries (Georgia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and China (Urban) were classified as having relative pro-poor growth. In addition, strong pro-poor growth was found in Iran while Israel was inconclusive. In summary, the study provided evidence in support of Asian countries' economic growth being pro-poor after the global financial crisis. The study suggested that a mixed approach to evaluating pro-poor growth be adopted such that the results from both absolute and relative measures are compared.

Keywords

Pro-poor Growth, Inequality, Poverty, Asian Countries, Growth Incidence Curve, DASP

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 31. 5. 2022

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Mgr. Jaromír Harmáček, Ph.D.

Palacký University Olomouc

Faculty of Science

Master programme / field:
Development Studies and Foresight / Development Studies and Foresight - specialization in Global Development Policy