1. Introduction
The question of whether economic growth leads to poverty reduction is a subject of major contention today. The neo-liberal view to this issue is that growth is good for the poor, and that poverty can be alleviated through economic growth. In this essay, I argue that unless the poor participate meaningfully in the economy and the constraints that hinder their participation are removed, growth on its own cannot help in poverty reduction. The state should also play a major role in making the poor benefit from growth by pursuing pro-poor policies. In the subsequent paragraphs, I define what pro-poor growth is; spell out the constraints to pro-poor growth and what can be done to make growth benefit the poor.
Tags: deliberate intervention, maximum participation, poverty reduction, productivity increase, productivity increases