Pro-Poor Growth in Pakistan

Abstract

This study assesses the impact of economic growth on absolute poverty in Pakistan over the last four decades. The article attempts to answer the relatively ignored basic question: is economic growth in Pakistan pro-poor? In addition, an attempt has been made to evaluate the distribution of income within poor, a step necessary to determine the sensitivity of different income groups, below poverty line, to the economic growth. These assessments are conducted through Growth Incidence Curves—a superior poverty measure—and calculation of the Rate of Pro-Poor Growth (RPPG) and the Ordinary Rate of Growth (ORG). This study finds that economic growth in Pakistan is not intrinsically pro-poor. Although it was pro-poor in the seventies and is also the same in the current decade, and strongly pro-poor in the eighties, a positive growth in the nineties was, however, anti-poor. The analysis shows that the first decile is most sensitive to economic growth and most vulnerable to economic shocks.