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Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, determinants and consequences: The Dynamics of Income Inequality in a Dualistic Economy: Malawi over 1990-2011

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  • CORNIA, GIOVANNI ANDREA
  • MARTORANO, BRUNO

Abstract

Malawi is a small country located in Southern Africa. It has a surface area of 118,000 km2, a total length of 540 miles and a maximum width of 150 miles. The country is landlocked and the nearest harbours, Beira and Nacala (both located in Mozambique), are around 1,000 km from Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital. The country became a British colony in 1893 and gained independence in 1964. In 2011, the last year with inequality data, the total population was 15.5 million and its growth rate was around 3.0 per cent (UN DESA, Population Division, 2015). The population density is high, at 182.6 people per km2, against an average of 37 for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The mainstay of the economy is agriculture, which currently employs 65.0 per cent of the workforce and generates about 36.0 per cent of GDP and 90.0 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. This sector is characterised, historically, by the dualism between small subsistence farms versus large estates run by white settlers during colonial times and by domestic elites after independence.

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  • Cornia, Giovanni Andrea & Martorano, Bruno, 2017. "Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, determinants and consequences: The Dynamics of Income Inequality in a Dualistic Economy: Malawi over 1990-2011," UNDP Africa Reports 267648, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:undpar:267648
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.267648
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pryor, F.L., 1988. "Income Distribution And Economic Development In Malawi - Some Historical Statistics," World Bank - Discussion Papers 36, World Bank.
    2. Giovanni Cornia & Bruno Martorano, "undated". "Building the integrated inequality database and the seven sins of inequality measurement in Sub-Saharan Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2016-01, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    3. repec:ilo:ilowps:461444 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jonathan Said & Khwima Singini, 2014. "The political economy determinants of economic growth in Malawi," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-040-14, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    5. Pryor, F.L., 1988. "Income Distribution And Economic Development In Madagascar - Some Historical Statistics," World Bank - Discussion Papers 37, World Bank.
    6. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Laura Deotti & Maria Sassi, "undated". "Food Price Volatility over the Last Decade in Niger and Malawi: Extent, Sources and Impact on Child Malnutrition," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-002, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    7. Durevall, Dick. & Mussa, Richard., 2010. "Employment diagnostic analysis : Malawi," ILO Working Papers 994614443402676, International Labour Organization.
    8. Richard Mussa, 2015. "Do the Poor Pay More for Maize in Malawi?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 546-563, 05-27.
    9. Pauw, Karl & Beck, Ulrik & Mussa, Richard, 2014. "Did rapid smallholder-led agricultural growth fail to reduce rural poverty? Making sense of Malawi's poverty puzzle," WIDER Working Paper Series 123, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Lerman, Robert I & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1985. "Income Inequality Effects by Income," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 151-156, February.
    11. Wan, Guang Hua, 2001. "Changes in regional inequality in rural China: decomposing the Gini index by income sources," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 45(3), pages 1-21.
    12. Katia Covarrubias & Benjamin Davis & Paul Winters, 2012. "From protection to production: productive impacts of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer scheme," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 50-77, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maria Sassi, 2020. "Evidence of Between- and Within-Household Child Nutrition Inequality in Malawi: Does the Gender of the Household Head Matter?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 28-50, January.

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