Pro-Poor Growth in Andean Countries

Abstract

This paper studies the pro-poor growth in the Latino American Andean countries. We first present different definitions of pro-poorness and the related methods in order to generate the statistically robust results for classes of pro-poor measures. Also, we present the non anonymous pro-poor approach and we propose also a new method to study the inter-temporal pro-poor growth with the aim to capture the change of wellbeing of the poor over time. We apply these procedures to five L.A. countries, which are Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela for the period between 2005 and 2010. In general, we find strong statistical evidence that the Andean L.A. countries growths have been absolutely and relatively pro-poor for the period between 2005 and 2010. However, the 2008 world economic crisis has affected temporarily growth and the latter was not absolutely pro-poor during this economic crisis. Starting from 2009, the L.A. countries have registered a remarkable economic recovery. This recovery has helped to growth to absolutely pro-poor and thus, to continue to reduce poverty in this region of world.