In the late 1990s the bilateral and multilateral development agencies placed increasing emphasis on poverty reduction in developing countries. This emphasis led to the establishment by the United Nations of the so-called International Development Targets for poverty reduction. The achievement of...

Recent development literature has placed priority on poverty reduction, and on possible growth enhancement from a more equal distribution of assets and income. At the same time, empirical work consistently shows that economic growth is no more than distribution neutral. In that context, this...