Economic Growth and Its Pro-Poorness in Zambia 2006-2015: To What Extent?

Abstract

Economic growth and its impact on economies and citizens has been widely debated by economists for some time with its key attributes including the fact that the benefits of such growth trickle down to all sections of society, especially the poor. This trickle-down hypothesis has come into question in recent times with prominent authors proposing a pro-poor measure of economic growth. Using the methodology developed by Kakwani et al. (2004) applied to the Zambia Living Conditions. Monitoring Surveys of 2006, 2010 and 2015, this paper empirically executes the measurement of the pro-poorness of economic growth in Zambia in the period 2006-2015. We find that economic growth in Zambia has not been pro-poor based on the poverty equivalent growth rate criteria. Despite positive economic growth being recorded over this period and the poverty rates declining slowly, the poor in Zambia derived pro-portionally less benefits from such growth than the non-poor. Growth has not impacted the poor in a significant way, a situation which calls for a robust assessment of the composition of the poor and their potential roles in the economic growth process to appropriately design interventions which yield dividends for this group of people in as far as poverty reduction is concerned.