Everyone's Miracle?: Revisiting Poverty and Inequality in East Asia

This study examines poverty and inequality in East Asia and the Pacific. Chapter 1 briefly reviews recent economic growth in East Asia as background to the analysis of poverty and inequality trends. Chapter 2 presents the available evidence on aggregate poverty trends and the profile of the poor within countries. Chapter 3 presents the evidence on inequality and briefly discusses why this may be of concern. Chapter 4 presents a case study of Thailand, analyzing its poverty profile and inequality dynamics in detail. Chapter 5 summarizes the set of policies that enabled many countries to reduce poverty and asks whether the new developments warrant any policy changes or new initiatives. Chapter 6 presents four findings: a) The remarkable and sustained rates of economic growth throughout most of the region have generated considerable benefits of the poor. b) Different rates of growth and poverty reduction has brought about a change in poverty map. It signals the need to focus attention on the specific needs of lagging economies, many of which are in transition. c) Poverty remains unevenly distributed within most East Asian economies. d) There is some doubt on the perception of East Asia as an atypically egalitarian region.