Three Essays On Income Growth Poverty And Inequality PDF Download

This dissertation provides some evidence-based policy lessons focusing on the role of institutional, structural, and fiscal policies in achieving pro-poor and inclusive growth. The first chapter gives an overview of the dissertation and briefly discusses the main data issues and some stylized facts on inequality and poverty. The second chapter examines the role of good governance in fostering pro-poor and inclusive growth at the macroeconomic level. It shows that while all features of good governance enhance pro-poor growth, only government effectiveness and the rule of law tend to promote inclusive growth. The third chapter provides a cross-country analysis investigating how governments can reduce income inequality by changing the composition of public spending while keeping the total level fixed. The results show that reallocating defense spending towards education, and health spending and in particular social and infrastructure spending, is associated with reduced income inequality in countries with political stability. The fourth chapter provides a microeconomic perspective, focusing on how better performance of informal firms could promote shared prosperity in a context of fragility. It shows that firms' performance is a key factor in explaining income differences between entrepreneurs. In addition, the chapter finds that human capital and managerial skills are important engines of informal firms' performance.