Pro-poor or impoverishing growth? An analysis of the Brazilian states from 1994-2011

This paper aims to assess whether the Brazilian states showed a pro-poor nature growth, i.e., a growth accompanied by a reduction in income inequality and increased levels of average income. The method used was the one proposed by Duclos (2009), which allows for more robust results for the class of pro-poor measures under different poverty lines. Two different periods, 1995-2003 and 2003-2011, based on the PNAD microdata, were considered. The results indicated that there was an improvement in the welfare of the poor in the whole period, with greater emphasis on the sub-period 2003-2011. Evidence shows that, since 2003, there has beena significant change in the quality of economic growth, which has greatly benefited the poor population of the urban area. However this movement has been accompanied by an increase in the number of states whose growth has brought the impoverishment of the poor population in the rural areas.

pro-poor growth; inequality; poverty