This chapter reviews the empirical evidence on the levels and trends in income/consumption inequality and poverty in … poverty across countries and regions, an assessment of trends in these variables since the early 1980s, and a general … discussion of their determinants. There has been tremendous progress in the measurement of inequality and poverty in the …

Using comparable fiscal incidence analysis, this paper examines the impact of fiscal policy on inequality and poverty … targeted at the rich. While fiscal policy always reduces inequality, this is not the case with poverty. Fiscal policy increases … poverty in 4 countries using a US$1.25/day PPP poverty line, in 8 countries using a US$2.50/day line, and in 15 countries …

, decreasing the Gini inequality index by 21 percentage points, and the official measure of poverty incidence by 27.6 percentage …