The Elasticity of Poverty with respect to Sectoral Growth in Africa

Nicoletta Berardi and F. Marzo

Working papers from Banque de France

Abstract: The African continent has grown by more than 4 per cent yearly on average during the past decade. However, the link between this remarkable growth rate and poverty reduction is neither obvious nor simple. This paper focuses on the elasticity of poverty with respect to GDP growth at the sectoral level and takes into account the fact that economic growth may affect poverty directly as well as indirectly through sectoral labor share intensity. It develops a methodology that sheds light on the contribution of sectoral growth to poverty reduction country-by-country in Africa, guiding policy recommendations. As the composition of growth matters at least as much as its overall intensity, it is key to identify the sectors that have the strongest impact on poverty reduction and unleash their potential; if growth happens to concentrate in sectors with scarce pro-poor potential, like commodity-driven growth, redistributive strategies are necessary to compensate the weak effect on poverty.

Keywords: elasticity of poverty; sectoral growth; labor intensity; pro-poor growth. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I32 J21 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-gro
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Elasticity of Poverty with respect to Sectoral Growth in Africa (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bfr:banfra:538

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