Abstract

OCHOA C., Marcelo  and  ZAPATA S., Daniela. ¿En qué magnitud el crecimiento beneficia a los pobres?: Evidencia para Bolivia 1994-2002. rlde [online]. 2007, n.9, pp.9-44. ISSN 2074-4706.

This paper explores the importance of growth as an instrument to reduce poverty and the extent to which the poor benefit from growth. Using three alternative methodologies, a poverty decomposition and two measures of pro-poor growth, we examine the benefits and costs the poor in Bolivia have to tackle during a high growth period (1994-1997) and a period of economic contraction (1999-2002). Our findings suggest that the benefits from growth and costs of economic crisis are distributed unequally. Even though, the poor do benefit in high growth environments, they share much smaller gains than wealthy households. In contrast, when the economy contracts the poor acquire most of the looses. Evidently, economic crises disadvantage the poor, and economic expansions favor the wealthy.

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