This paper gives a selected review of some of the work on poverty mobility, largely based on recent research. The literature is vast and many interesting suggestive findings have emerged. Most evidence points to the importance of household endowments, in terms of education or assets, as well as...

We explore how to measure poverty over time, by focusing on trajectories of poverty rather than poverty at a particular point in time. We consider welfare outcomes over a period in time, consisting of a number of spells. We offer a characterization of desirable properties for measuring poverty...

This paper investigates recent advances in our understanding of the global distribution of income, and produces the first estimates of global inequality that take into account data on the incomes of the top one percent within countries.  We discuss conceptual and methodological issues -...

We study the impact of growth and growth accelerations on poverty and inequality in Indonesia using a new panel dataset covering 26 provinces over the period 1977-2010.  This new dataset allows us to distinguish between mining and non-mining sectors of the economy.  We find that growth in...

How well did Kenyans do under colonial rule?  It is common sense that Kenyans suffered under exploitative colonial policies.  The overall impact, however, is uncertain.  This study presents fresh evidence on nutrition and health in colonial Kenya by (1) using a new and comprehensive data set...

This is an attempt to view the relationships involving education and income as forming a system, and one that can generate a poverty trap.  The setting is rural China, and the data are from a national household survey for 2002, designed with research hypotheses in mind.  Enrolment is high in...

Risk has been presented as a cause of poverty persistence under imperfect insurance mechanisms.  This paper assesses the ex post effect of hurricane Mitch on consumption growth of Nicaraguan agricultural households.  How persistent was Mitch's direct impact beyond October 1998 damage?  A...

This paper compares historical poverty baskets to modern food security and poverty lines.  Changes in the historical baskets and indexing methods are proposed to bring historical studies into better alignment with modern measures as well as with historically based estimates of energy...

The study presents recent global evidence on the transformation of economic growth to poverty reduction in developing countries, with emphasis on the role of income inequality.  The focus is on the period since the early-mid-1990s when growth in these countries as a group has been relatively...

Using panel data from villages in rural Ethiopia, the paper studies the determinants of consumption growth (1989-97), based on a microgrowth model, controlling for heterogeneity. Consumption grew substantially, but with diverse experiences across villages and individuals. A key focus is on...