The purpose of this Working Paper is to explore a menu of policy recommendations that developing country governments can use to think through their policy-making decisions and ensure the poorest people participate in economic growth on good terms, such that they can sustainably escape poverty.
The key messages emerging from the research are:
Pro-poorest growth can be driven by investment in labour-intensive industry, supported by institutional measures to ensure fair competition in the market and a voice for business with government. However, institutional measures are not always sufficient to generate such investments.
The gains from pro-poorest growth can be eroded if there is inadequate protection from major shocks—in particular impoverishing ill-health and food price inflation. There is a need for adequate health coverage and attention to casual wages as well as food prices.
Regional integration and cross-border trade can be powerful supports to pro-poorest growth. Here, South-East Asian countries have had a significant advantage over East African countries.
Cross-border migration of unskilled labour may assist pro-poor growth; it is internal migration that is most likely to contribute to pro-poorest growth. In both cases, supportive policies can reduce the costs and increase the returns to migration.
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This paper is one of the output of the research programme Leaving no one behind: adjusting economic growth strategies - Pro-poorest growth policy analysis
Authors: Chiara Mariotti and Andrew Shepherd
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Pro-poorest growth, defined as a relatively greater proportion of income gain from growth by the poorest compared to the average, may be necessary to achieve the first Sustainable Development Goal target of eradicating extreme poverty: this paper argues that it is likely to be, and that some countries have had at least episodes of pro-poorest growth.
Authors: Andrew Shepherd, Chiara Mariotti, and Laura Rodriguez-Takeuchi