Policy Paper 5. Growth, Wealth and Inequality: Evidence from Young Lives

Abstract

This paper analyses consumption and wealth levels using the Young Lives data. The purpose is to describe the context in which children are growing up, and therefore also to understand some of the opportunities children and young people will have as they grow older. The national pictures show economic growth and absolute poverty reduction after 2000 but a more mixed picture of national income inequality levels rising in Vietnam and India, and falling somewhat in Peru and Ethiopia. Analysis of Young Lives data shows that these GDP increases are associated with wealth and consumption growth in the Young Lives sample. Disaggregating the change in a number of different ways reveals that, although consumption and wealth levels tend to be rising for different groups of children, those with already higher levels of consumption have tended to gain the most. We add to this with exploratory analysis of specific geographic communities, demonstrating how they have changed