The authors examine the empirical evidence in support of the poverty trap view of underdevelopment. They calibrate … simple aggregate growth models in which poverty traps can arise due to either low saving or low technology at low levels of … development. They then use these models to assess the empirical relevance of poverty traps and their consequences for policy. The …

Growth is pro-poor if the poverty measure of interest falls. According to this definition there are three potential … sources of pro-poor growth: (1) a high rate of growth of average incomes; (2) a high sensitivity of poverty to growth in … average incomes; and (3) a poverty-reducing pattern of growth in relative incomes. The author empirically decomposes changes …