Opportunity 104: Inequality in Developing Countries

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Historically unprecedented economic growth in China, India, and several other large developing countries has reduced overall global inequality and ushered in remarkable rates of poverty reduction over the past generation. In East Asia, for example, the share of the population living on less than $1/day fell from roughly 70 percent in 1981 to less than 10 percent in 2005. But progress has been uneven within and among regions. Social and economic mobility has been especially limited in sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than three-quarters of the global subpopulation who live on 50 cents a day or less. These ultra-poor, who appear caught in a “poverty trap,” live mainly in rural areas and depend on agricultural livelihoods and are, therefore, especially vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters. In Opportunity 104, Chris Barrett, the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management and leader of the 2008-2011 theme project for the Institute for the Social Sciences, will lead a discussion of persistent poverty and upward mobility in developing countries and examine private and public sector initiatives aimed at unlocking the poverty traps that presently hold back as many as two billion people globally. The talk will emphasize the importance of technological change, globalization of markets, and innovations in risk management to achieving lasting solutions, as well as the central role of graduate student research and interdisciplinary collaboration in establishing and advancing Cornell’s pre-eminence in these research areas.

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