Poverty, Inequality and Growth in Jamaica, 1988-98, and Beyond

This paper looks into the relations between economic growth and poverty reduction in Jamaica. A poverty profile is constructed, based on household budget survey data, and per capita growth is decomposed into pure growth effects and changes in inequality effects. I find that growth has contributed to poverty reduction mainly because there has not been any large increases in inequality. However, simulations also show that in order to for growth to continue to be efficient for poverty reduction, it is necessary to improve the prospects for rurally based, particularly small-scale agricultural growth. If not, the possibility of growth being anti-poor cannot be ignored.