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Professor Tarp has four decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research and teaching. His field experience covers more than two decades of in-country work in 35 countries across Africa and the developing world more...
Despite decades of research and advances in data and methods, measuring poverty and reconciling this with patterns of economic growth remains a complex and contentious issue. UNU-WIDER’s Growth and Poverty Project (GAPP) re-examines Africa’s growth, poverty and inequality trends. The project has three goals.
First, develop new tools to measure monetary poverty in consistent and comparable ways, and make these tools accessible to scholars in Africa and other developing regions.
Secondly, undertake detailed case studies in more than a dozen African countries to measure poverty trends, and 'triangulate' these with other development indicators, such as on non-monetary poverty, demographic changes, macroeconomic trends and external shocks.
Thirdly, develop a macro-micro analytical framework to conduct detailed research in countries where poverty and economic growth trends appear to be inconsistent.
106 articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Journal Article
A human rights-consistent approach to multidimensional welfare measurement applied to sub-Saharan AfricaThe rights-based approach to development targets progress towards the realization of 30 articles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In current practice, progress is frequently measured using the multidimensional poverty index...
Working Paper
On the poverty–growth elasticityPoverty–growth elasticities are frequently calculated to provide insight into the inclusiveness of the growth process. Mathematically, the formula employed to calculate the growth elasticity of poverty leads to lower values for higher initial poverty...
Working Paper
A human rights-consistent approach to multidimensional welfare measurement applied to sub-Saharan AfricaThe rights-based approach to development targets progress towards the realization of 30 articles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Progress is frequently measured using the multidimensional poverty index. While elegant and...
Book Chapter
Conclusions and looking forwardPart of Book Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries
Book Chapter
Estimating multidimensional poverty in ZambiaPart of Book Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries
Book Chapter
Child deprivation and income poverty in GhanaPart of Book Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries
Book Chapter
Uganda: a new set of utility-consistent poverty linesPart of Book Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries
Book Chapter
Poverty trends in PakistanPart of Book Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries
Book Chapter
Estimation in practicePart of Book Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries
Book Chapter
Absolute poverty linesPart of Book Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries
Book
Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countriesThis is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Detailed analyses of poverty and...
Blog
What do we know about growth and poverty in Africa?
The literature on Africa’s development abounds in big theories — structural transformation, pro-poor growth, inclusive growth, among others. ‘Growth...
Journal Article
Effects of food price shocks on child malnutrition
– The Mozambican experience 2008/2009
A propitiously timed household survey carried out in Mozambique over the period 2008/2009 permits us to study the relationship between shifts in food prices and child nutrition status in a low income setting. We focus on weight-for-height and weight...
Blog
Done sensibly, agricultural development can reduce poverty in AfricaThe recovery and acceleration of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa since about 1995 has been widely recognised. But less is known about the extent...
Working Paper
Multidimensional assessment of child welfare for TanzaniaWe contribute to the literature on trends in living standards in Tanzania by analysing child welfare using two multi-dimensional approaches, first-order dominance (FOD) and Alkire-Foster (AF). Between 1991/92 and 2010, remarkably similar area...
Blog
Africa’s Poverty - Is Growth Delivering Enough?
To Stockholm, for Sida’s Development Talks on the theme ‘Africa rising? Poverty and growth in sub-Saharan Africa’. Finn Tarp and Andy McKay spoke...
Policy Brief
– Evidence from a 16 country study
Book Chapter
Growth and Poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo
– 2001-13
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Utility-Consistent Poverty in Madagascar, 2001-10
– Snapshots in the Presence of Multiple Economy-Wide Shocks
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Incomes, Inequality, and Poverty in Kenya
– A Long-Term Perspective
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
The Fall of the Elephant
– Two Decades of Poverty Increase in Côte d'Ivoire, 1988-2008
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Assessing Progress in Welfare Improvements in Zambia
– A Multidimensional Approach
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Mozambique
– Off-track or Temporarily Sidelined?
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Burkina Faso
– Shipping Around the Malthusian Trap
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Poverty and its Dynamics in Uganda
– Explorations using a New Set of Poverty Lines
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Did Rapid Smallholder-led Agricultural Growth Fail to Reduce Rural Poverty?
– Making Sense of Malawi's Poverty Puzzle
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Ghana
– Poverty Reduction over Thirty Years
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Poverty in Ethiopia, 2000-11
– Welfare Improvements in a Changing Economic Landscape
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Synthesis
– Two Cheers for the African Growth Renaissance (but not three)
Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book Chapter
Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan AfricaPart of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Book
Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan AfricaThis book is Open Access, click here to download. Includes 16 country case studies which collectively represent nearly three-quarters of the sub-Saharan African population Analyses welfare, living conditions, and poverty reduction Contributions from...
Working Paper
Child deprivation and income poverty in GhanaThis study assesses temporal and spatial distribution of child deprivation and income poverty using the fifth and sixth rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Survey. The first-order dominance methodology was used to examine five dimensions of...
Working Paper
Estimating utility-consistent poverty in Madagascar, 2001–10We adapt the standardized Poverty Line Estimation Analytical Software–PLEASe computer code stream based on Arndt and Simler’s (2010) utility-consistent approach to measuring consumption poverty in order to analyse poverty in Madagascar in 2001, 2005...
Working Paper
Estimating utility-consistent poverty in Ethiopia, 2000–11We adapt the standardized Poverty Line Estimation Analytical Software (PLEASe) computer code stream based on Arndt and Simler’s (2010) utility-consistent approach to analyse poverty in Ethiopia in 2000, 2005, and 2011. Several data-related issues...
Working Paper
Estimating multidimensional poverty in ZambiaIn this paper, we apply the first-order dominance (FOD) approach to assessing multidimensional welfare to analyse multidimensional poverty in Zambia in 1996, 2006, and 2010. In addition to evaluating welfare across time and space, we extend the...
Working Paper
Poverty trends in PakistanThe official estimates of poverty in Pakistan have shown a remarkable and consistent decline in the poverty headcount during the previous decade. This paper examines trends in poverty between 2001 and 2011 using the official food energy intake and...
Working Paper
Keep it real
– Measuring real inequality using survey data from developing countries
This paper investigates how two effects drive wedges between nominal and real inequality estimates. The effects are caused by (i) differences in the composition of consumption over the income distribution coupled with differential inflation of...
Working Paper
Spatial and temporal multidimensional poverty in NigeriaNigeria has recorded impressive growth in the last decade, yet the impact of this growth on poverty reduction remains unclear. This paper appraises spatial and temporal non-monetary multidimensional poverty in Nigeria using the first-order dominance...
Working Paper
Estimating multidimensional childhood poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2007 through 2013After years of economic decline, conflict, and instability, the Democratic Republic of Congo achieved rapid economic growth in the 2000s along with a reduction in rural consumption poverty. This paper evaluates the extent to which recent growth has...
Working Paper
Uganda – A new set of utility consistent poverty linesUganda has seen impressive economic growth and substantial poverty reductions over the past few decades. Today, official headcount poverty stands at about 20 per cent. However, recent research relying on non-monetary wealth indicators challenges...
Working Paper
Methods matter
– The sensitivity of Malawian poverty estimates to definitions, data, and assumptions
This paper decomposes differences between the official poverty estimates of Malawi and a set of revised estimates by Pauw et al. (2016) with respect to five methodological differences: (i) the use of a revised set of unit conversion factors; (ii) the...
Working Paper
The recent evolution of consumption poverty in RwandaThis paper analyses the evolution of consumption poverty in Rwanda between 2001/1 and 2010/11, using three comparable good quality household surveys analysed along with detailed price data. Rwanda achieved impressive growth over this period. The...
Working Paper
Multidimensional first-order dominance comparisons of population wellbeingIn this paper, we convey the concept of first-order dominance (FOD) with particular focus on applications to multidimensional population welfare comparisons. We give an account of the fundamental equivalent definitions of FOD, illustrated with simple...
Blog
Environmental change and economic development in Africa
The MIT Global Change Forum has gained an international reputation for serious, frank, and informed discussion of global climate change. The Forum...
Working Paper
Ghana
– Poverty Reduction Over Thirty Years
Ghana is relatively rare among Sub-Saharan African countries in having had sustained positive growth every year since the mid-1980s. This paper analyses the nature of the growth and then presents an analysis of the evolution of both consumption...
Working Paper
Growth and Poverty Reduction in TanzaniaAfter many years of relatively slow growth, Tanzania’s national accounts data report accelerated aggregate growth since around 2000. Our analysis shows that there has been somewhat slower growth in private consumption and in sectors such as...
Journal Article
First Order Dominance Analysis
– Child Wellbeing in the Democratic Republic of Congo
This paper performs a multidimensional first order dominance analysis of child wellbeing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This methodology allows the ordinal ranking of the 11 provinces of the DRC in terms of their wellbeing based upon the...
Research Brief
Children’s nutrition status in Mozambique
– Determining the impact of rising food prices
Evidence obtained from detailed household surveys in Mozambique during the 2008-09 food price shock reveals just how pronounced the impact of food price inflation can be on children’s overall nutrition status. Moderate and severe underweight...
Research Brief
Burkina Faso – growth without poverty reductionBurkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, poor in natural resources, and with low levels of human development. Its economy remains agricultural and focused on food crops and cotton production. Over the last twenty years it has experienced...
Research Brief
A colonial legacy?
– Income inequality in former British African colonies
The presence of European colonial powers in Africa has left a long-lasting legacy that has severely impacted their development trajectories. But what are the lingering effects of colonization on economic performance, in particular with regard to...
Working Paper
Mozambique
– Off-track or Temporarily Sidelined?
Since 1994, a great deal has been accomplished. We argue that poverty reduction was temporarily sidelined in the 2000s. A series of shocks, especially the fuel and food price crisis of 2008, combined with poor productivity growth in agriculture and a...
Journal Article
When do relative prices matter for measuring income inequality?
– The case of food prices in Mozambique
Changes in relative prices of commodities consumed in different shares across income groups can be expected to alter real income differentials between these groups. Using Mozambican household budget survey and price data from 2002/03 and 2008/09, we...
Working Paper
When do Relative Prices Matter for Measuring Income Inequality?
– The Case of Food Prices in Mozambique
Changes in relative prices of commodities consumed in different shares across income groups can be expected to alter real income differentials between these groups. Using Mozambican household budget survey and price data from 2002/03 and 2008/09, we...
Working Paper
Growth, Poverty, and Inequality
– The Case Study of Cameroon
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the growth performance of the Cameroonian economy from independence in 1960 to date, and then to use this as a background for the analysis of poverty, inequality, and non-monetary outcomes. The analysis of...
Working Paper
Consumption Bundle Aggregation in Poverty Measurement
– Implications for Poverty and its Dynamics in Uganda
Official poverty figures in Uganda are flawed by the fact that the underlying poverty lines are based on a single national food basket that was constructed in the early 1990s. In this paper, we estimate a new set of poverty lines that accounts for...
Working Paper
Multi-dimensional Poverty Analysis for Tanzania
– First Order Dominance Approach with Discrete Indicators
As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania has attained rapid economic growth accompanied by only marginal reductions in poverty. Is this mismatch between high economic growth and less significant poverty reduction due to how growth and poverty are...
Working Paper
The Fall of the Elephant
– Two Decades of Poverty Increase in Côte d’Ivoire (1988-2008)
At the end of the 1980s, Côte d’Ivoire entered a deep macroeconomic crisis that put an end to the often-praised ‘Ivorian miracle’. After the death of the founding father Houphouet-Boigny, unrestrained political competition added to bad economic...
Working Paper
Multidimensional Poverty in Nigeria
– First Order Dominance Approach
This study appraises non-monetary multidimensional poverty in Nigeria using the novel first order dominance approach developed by Arndt et al. (2012). It examines five dimensions of deprivation: education, water, sanitation, shelter, and energy-using...
Working Paper
Growth, Poverty and Inequality in Rwanda
– A Broad Perspective
This study focuses on growth, poverty and inequality in Rwanda. We take a broad perspective, in two respects. First, we consider a long time period so as to compare the current situation with the pre-war situation, allowing us to assess whether the...
Working Paper
Multidimensional Welfare in Districts of Zambia
– A First Order Dominance Approach
In this paper we make welfare comparisons among districts of Zambia using multidimensional well-being indicators observed at the household level using the first order dominance approach developed by Arndt et al. in 2012. This approach allows welfare...
Working Paper
When do Relative Prices Matter for Measuring Income Inequality?
– The Case of Food Prices in Mozambique
Changes in the relative prices of commodities consumed in different shares across income groups are known to influence real measures of inequality. Using household budget survey and price data in Mozambique from 2002/03 and 2008/09, we show that...
Working Paper
Poverty, Inequality, and Prices in Post-Apartheid South AfricaPost-apartheid poverty and inequality trends have been the subject of intensive analysis, yet relatively little attention has been devoted to the impact of differential price movements on the measurement of poverty and inequality. This paper aims to...
Working Paper
Incomes, Inequality, and Poverty in Kenya
– A Long-Term Perspective
This paper seeks to measure and explain changes in incomes, inequality, and poverty in Kenya. It starts from a very long-term perspective covering the last century, but then focuses on a more detailed analysis of the recent period for which data from...
Working Paper
Utility-Consistent Poverty in Ethiopia, 2000–11
– Welfare Improvements in a Changing Economic Landscape
We use Arndt and Simler’s utility-consistent approach to calculating poverty lines to analyse poverty in Ethiopia in 2000, 2005, and 2011. Poverty reduction was steady but uneven, with gains greatest in urban areas in the first half of the decade...
Working Paper
Burkina Faso
– Shipping Around the Malthusian Trap
Burkina Faso has experienced quite significant aggregate growth over the past two decades, but that growth has not been transformed into poverty reduction. The key obstacles preventing large-scale escape from poverty are very high population growth...
Working Paper
Did Rapid Smallholder-Led Agricultural Growth Fail to Reduce Rural Poverty?
– Making Sense of Malawi’s Poverty Puzzle
Disappointment was widespread when rapid economic growth since 2005, coupled with a smallholder-targeted fertilizer subsidy program, failed to significantly reduce poverty in Malawi. Official estimates for 2011 showed a 1.7 percentage point decline...
Working Paper
Utility-Consistent Poverty in Madagascar, 2001-10
– Snapshots in the Presence of Multiple Economy-Wide Shocks
We use Arndt and Simler’s (2010) utility-consistent approach to calculating poverty lines to analyse poverty in Madagascar in 2001, 2005 and 2010. Because two major political crises occurred between the survey periods, the snapshots of national...
Working Paper
Assessing the Inclusiveness of Growth in Africa
– Evidence from Cameroon, Senegal, and Tanzania
In this study, we assess the inclusiveness of growth by tracking the yearly percentage change in the household consumption of individuals over different growth spells in Cameroon, Senegal, and Tanzania. With cross-sectional data, we track the...
Blog
Multidimensional Poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo
25 June 2014 Malokele Nanivazo After a long series of conflicts and apparent macroeconomic mismanagement, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) seems...
Working Paper
The Colonial Legacy
– Income Inequality in Former British African Colonies
This paper examines the distribution of top incomes in 15 former British colonies in Africa, drawing on evidence available from income tax records. It seeks to throw light on the position of colonial elites during the period of British rule. Just how...
Working Paper
The Structural Anatomy and Institutional Architecture of Inclusive Growth in Sub-Saharan AfricaThe distinct features of inclusive growth within the context of sub-Saharan Africa are identified. The anatomy of growth is analysed by exploring the interrelationship among growth, inequality, and poverty. The present growth spell appears to have...
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Context
Main subject
Theme: Past, 2012-13