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Growth, Structural Change, and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from India

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  • Sen Gupta, Abhijit
  • Hasan, Rana
  • Lamba, Sneha

Abstract

We examine the relationship between growth in labor productivity and poverty reduction through the lens of changes in the structure of output and employment. Combining state-level data from India on poverty with state-level data on output and employment for 11 production sectors over 1987–2009, we find that the movement of workers from lower to higher productivity sector is an important channel through which increases in aggregate productivity translate into poverty reduction. We also find that the importance of this channel of productivity growth, termed structural change by recent literature, varies across states. Exploratory analysis reveals that indicators of financial development, business regulations that promote competition and flexible labor regulations are associated with larger reallocations of labor from lower to higher productivity sectors. Overall, our findings are consistent with the view that a better investment climate is not only good for business, it is also an important means for making growth more pro-poor in a labor abundant country.

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  • Sen Gupta, Abhijit & Hasan, Rana & Lamba, Sneha, 2014. "Growth, Structural Change, and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from India," MPRA Paper 55247, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:55247
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Shantanu Khanna & Deepti Goel & René Morissette, 2016. "Decomposition analysis of earnings inequality in rural India: 2004–2012," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour productivity; Structural change; Poverty reduction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth

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