Addressing Inequality in South Asia

Inequality in South Asia appears to be moderate when looking at standard indicators such as the Gini index, which are based on consumption expenditures per capita. But other pieces of evidence reveal enormous gaps, from extravagant wealth at one end to lack of access to the most basic services at th...

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Main Authors:	Rama, Martin, Béteille, Tara, Li, Yue, Mitra, Pradeep K., Newman, John Lincoln
Format:	Publication
Language:	en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	inequality mobility well-being access to finance opportunity equity progressivity migration nonfarm employment urban development households economic shocks social protection income distribution taxation regressive subsidies intergovernmental transfers happiness index discrimination Human Opportunity Index education returns on education vulnerability poverty gaps learning disparities health coverage class mobility Gini coefficients intergenerational mobility nonmonetary indicators subsidies urbanization wealth distribution
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20395

id	okr-10986-20395
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-203952021-04-23T14:03:55Z Addressing Inequality in South Asia Rama, Martin Béteille, Tara Li, Yue Mitra, Pradeep K. Newman, John Lincoln inequality mobility well-being access to finance opportunity equity progressivity migration nonfarm employment urban development households economic shocks social protection income distribution taxation regressive subsidies intergovernmental transfers happiness index discrimination Human Opportunity Index education returns on education vulnerability poverty gaps learning disparities health coverage class mobility Gini coefficients intergenerational mobility migration nonmonetary indicators subsidies urbanization wealth distribution Inequality in South Asia appears to be moderate when looking at standard indicators such as the Gini index, which are based on consumption expenditures per capita. But other pieces of evidence reveal enormous gaps, from extravagant wealth at one end to lack of access to the most basic services at the other. Which prompts the question: How bad is inequality in South Asia? And why would that matter? This book takes a comprehensive look at the extent, nature, and drivers of inequality in this very dynamic region of the world. It discusses how some dimensions of inequality, such as high returns to investments in human capital, contribute to economic growth while others, such as high payoffs to rent-seeking or broken aspirations, undermine it. Drawing upon a variety of data sources, it disentangles the contribution that opportunity in young age, mobility in adult years, and support throughout life make to inequality at any point in time. Equally important, the book sheds light on the prospects of escaping disadvantage over time. The analysis shows that South Asia performs poorly in terms of opportunity. Access to basic services is partial at best, and can be traced to characteristics at birth, including gender, location, and caste. Conversely, the region has had a robust performance in terms of geographical and occupational mobility despite its cluttered urbanization and widespread informality. Migration and jobs have served disadvantaged groups better than the rest, highlighting the importance of the urbanization and private sector development agendas. Support falls somewhere in between. Poverty alleviation programs are pervasive. But the mobilization of public resources is limited and much of it is wasted in regressive subsidies, while inter-government transfers do not do enough to mitigate spatial inequalities. 2014-10-09T00:09:14Z 2014-10-09T00:09:14Z 2015 978-1-4648-0022-1 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20395 en_US South Asia Development Forum; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Group, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Publication South Asia South Asia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	inequality mobility well-being access to finance opportunity equity progressivity migration nonfarm employment urban development households economic shocks social protection income distribution taxation regressive subsidies intergovernmental transfers happiness index discrimination Human Opportunity Index education returns on education vulnerability poverty gaps learning disparities health coverage class mobility Gini coefficients intergenerational mobility migration nonmonetary indicators subsidies urbanization wealth distribution
spellingShingle	inequality mobility well-being access to finance opportunity equity progressivity migration nonfarm employment urban development households economic shocks social protection income distribution taxation regressive subsidies intergovernmental transfers happiness index discrimination Human Opportunity Index education returns on education vulnerability poverty gaps learning disparities health coverage class mobility Gini coefficients intergenerational mobility migration nonmonetary indicators subsidies urbanization wealth distribution Rama, Martin Béteille, Tara Li, Yue Mitra, Pradeep K. Newman, John Lincoln Addressing Inequality in South Asia
geographic_facet	South Asia South Asia
relation	South Asia Development Forum;
description	Inequality in South Asia appears to be moderate when looking at standard indicators such as the Gini index, which are based on consumption expenditures per capita. But other pieces of evidence reveal enormous gaps, from extravagant wealth at one end to lack of access to the most basic services at the other. Which prompts the question: How bad is inequality in South Asia? And why would that matter? This book takes a comprehensive look at the extent, nature, and drivers of inequality in this very dynamic region of the world. It discusses how some dimensions of inequality, such as high returns to investments in human capital, contribute to economic growth while others, such as high payoffs to rent-seeking or broken aspirations, undermine it. Drawing upon a variety of data sources, it disentangles the contribution that opportunity in young age, mobility in adult years, and support throughout life make to inequality at any point in time. Equally important, the book sheds light on the prospects of escaping disadvantage over time. The analysis shows that South Asia performs poorly in terms of opportunity. Access to basic services is partial at best, and can be traced to characteristics at birth, including gender, location, and caste. Conversely, the region has had a robust performance in terms of geographical and occupational mobility despite its cluttered urbanization and widespread informality. Migration and jobs have served disadvantaged groups better than the rest, highlighting the importance of the urbanization and private sector development agendas. Support falls somewhere in between. Poverty alleviation programs are pervasive. But the mobilization of public resources is limited and much of it is wasted in regressive subsidies, while inter-government transfers do not do enough to mitigate spatial inequalities.
format	Publications & Research :: Publication
author	Rama, Martin Béteille, Tara Li, Yue Mitra, Pradeep K. Newman, John Lincoln
author_facet	Rama, Martin Béteille, Tara Li, Yue Mitra, Pradeep K. Newman, John Lincoln
author_sort	Rama, Martin
title	Addressing Inequality in South Asia
title_short	Addressing Inequality in South Asia
title_full	Addressing Inequality in South Asia
title_fullStr	Addressing Inequality in South Asia
title_full_unstemmed	Addressing Inequality in South Asia
title_sort	addressing inequality in south asia
publisher	World Bank Group, Washington, DC
publishDate	2014
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20395
_version_	1764445307551088640

Addressing Inequality in South Asia

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