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Inequality in Middle-Income Countries: Analysis and Suggestions

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Inclusive Development and Poverty Reduction

Part of the book series: International Research on Poverty Reduction ((IRPR))

Abstract

Most of the world’s poor are found in the middle-income countries, instead of low-income countries.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These indexes together constitute the multi-dimensional poverty index (MPI), which is listed in detail in the Human Development Report published by the UNDP in 2010 and 2011.

  2. 2.

    These poverty estimates can be found in the 2012 Povcal data. See the 2012 data published by the World Bank Development Data Group on the Povcalnet website.

  3. 3.

    Please refer to Chandy and Geertz (2011).

  4. 4.

    This conclusion poses a challenge for development assistance. For example, what policies should be implemented to best solve this problem: there are more poor people in eight Indian States than in twenty-six African countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

  5. 5.

    For example, in the upper-middle income countries, the Gini coefficient of South Africa is very high, reaching 63.1, while it is 54.7 in Brazil and 55.9 in Colombia; in the lower-middle income countries, the Gini coefficient of Angola is 58.6 and 56.3 in Bolivia. These data come from the World Bank's World Development Indicators 2012.

  6. 6.

    Data come from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (2012, p. 47).

  7. 7.

    For details, please refer to ADB (2012, p. 47) and OECD (2011, pp. 56–57).

  8. 8.

    For details, please refer to Berg and Zettelmeyer (2008), Berg and Ostry (2011).

  9. 9.

    With regard to this problem, please see Stiglitz (2010); and also see Stiglitz (2012).

  10. 10.

    Please refer to Ravallion and Chen (2004).

  11. 11.

    For details, see Gill and Kharas (2007).

  12. 12.

    For a detailed discussion of this “concentration” phenomenon and regional weakness in the early 21st century, see World Bank (2006).

  13. 13.

    For information on widening gap, see OECD (2011, chapter three, pp. 53–55).

  14. 14.

    For detailed information about China, see Li and Luo (2011).

  15. 15.

    See ADB (2012, p. 70).

  16. 16.

    The countries selected for the survey include China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bhutan and Thailand. See WB World Development Indicators 2011, Table 2.15, Education Gaps by Income and Gender.

  17. 17.

    See above ADB (2012, document 16, p. 65).

  18. 18.

    See OECD (2011, pp. 57–59).

  19. 19.

    See above ADB (2012, documents 16, p. 65).

  20. 20.

    There are diverse forms of this "rent-seeking" behavior: hidden or open government transfer, subsidies or laws to reduce market competition, lax enforcement of competition related laws, and laws to allow organizations to transfer costs.

  21. 21.

    See above ADB (2012, document 16, p. 56).

  22. 22.

    See Li (2010).

  23. 23.

    See above Li (2012, document 24).

  24. 24.

    (2010) Data come from World Bank (2012, Table 216, pp. 100–102).

  25. 25.

    For example, the capitalized value of stock market in the seven regional economies quadrupled from 2004 to 2007. For more information on this trend, see Cornia (2009), as well as Ocampo (2007, pp. 7–33).

  26. 26.

    Please refer to World Bank (2012).

  27. 27.

    For details of the plan and its implementation, please refer to Kostzer (2008), Argentina: A Case Study on the Plan Jefesy Jefas de Hogar Desocupados, as well as the Employment Road to Economic Recovery, UNDP Buenos Aires.

  28. 28.

    For example, the wage disparity between large and small-sized cities fell from 26% in 2000 to 19.4% in 2007. Please see Lustig (2011b, p. 14).

  29. 29.

    See Lustig (2011a, p. 23).

  30. 30.

    See Cornia (2009).

  31. 31.

    It can be seen from the diagram that only Ecuador’s social expenditure as a proportion of GDP in 2004–2005 was lower than that in 1990–1991.

  32. 32.

    See McKinley (2010).

  33. 33.

    Please see Kanbur and Raunyar (2009).

  34. 34.

    See Asian Development Bank (2012, p. 74).

  35. 35.

    For data, see World Bank (2009).

  36. 36.

    See World Bank (2009, pp. 88–89).

  37. 37.

    Most famous relevant documents: Fan et al. (2011, pp. 47–56). Also see Fan et al. (eds.) (2009).

  38. 38.

    The data come from Malaysia’s Ministry of Economic Planning in 2008 and quoted in World Bank (2009, p. 27).

  39. 39.

    See Hill et al. (2007).

  40. 40.

    See Wisaweisuan (2009).

  41. 41.

    Please refer to Claus, Iris, Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge, Vulovic, Violetta, Government Fiscal Policies and Redistribution in Asian Countries, International Center for Public Policy Working Paper 12–13, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. According to the document, Asia’s investment in education has helped reduced the inequality in the field and is much better than in other parts of the world in this regard; however, Asia’s investment in health is not as good as in other countries in the world (see document p. 25).

  42. 42.

    China’s “basic living allowance” program is a basic cash transfer, with no restrictions, and the only condition is that recipients are very poor.

  43. 43.

    Please refer to Fiszbein and Schady (2009).

  44. 44.

    For more related data, please refer to Slater and Farrington (2009).

  45. 45.

    Data come from OECD (2011), Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising, OECD, Paris.

  46. 46.

    For example, in Indonesia (2008), 34 percent of workers entitled to severance payments have received the pay after they were laid out. Most of them received less than they deserved. See World Bank (2010).

  47. 47.

    See OECD (2011, p. 60).

  48. 48.

    Please refer to World Bank (2010).

  49. 49.

    These problems are detailed in the literature: Robalino et al. (2012). The following discussion also draws on some of its conclusions.

  50. 50.

    Data come from World Bank (2012, p. 372).

  51. 51.

    There is a certain degree of transferability in urban employee insurance scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. London South Bank University, London, UK

    John Taylor

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  1. John Taylor
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Correspondence to John Taylor .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and development, Beijing, China

    Changsheng Zuo

  2. China Poverty Alleviation and Development Center, Beijing, China

    Chengwei Huang

  3. International Poverty Reduction Center in China, Beijing, China

    Xiaojun He

  4. Institute for Six-sector Economy, Fudan University, Shangai, China

    Xiaolin Wang

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Taylor, J. (2020). Inequality in Middle-Income Countries: Analysis and Suggestions. In: Zuo, C., Huang, C., He, X., Wang, X. (eds) Inclusive Development and Poverty Reduction. International Research on Poverty Reduction. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8446-6_1

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