Growth, Development and Poverty Alleviation in the Asia-Pacific

This volume presents a variety of papers on issues related to growth, development and poverty prepared by specialists in their particular development-related fields. While the living standards of most people around the world have improved over time in absolute terms, many are still in desperate poverty. The major bulk of humanity lives in the continent of Asia, and it is here that some of the more spectacular contrasts in both economic growth and levels of affluence and destitution can be found. Whether India and China can continue to grow as fast as they have done in recent years remains to be seen. More importantly perhaps, whether growth alone can reduce poverty in these countries and in others is a question that needs to be discussed and understood. Outside of India and China, the African continent, particularly the nations in Sub-Saharan Africa is home to large numbers of poor and deprived humanity. Many of these countries are natural resource rich, but that has not enabled many of them to achieve adequate growth and reduce poverty. As countries grow, they put extra pressure on both global resources and the natural environment. The question as to whether there are finite limits to economic growth in a global sense is one that has long exercised thinkers. Technological progress has often enabled countries to economise on resource use without sacrificing growth. Whether that can continue indefinitely is also a question that has acquired a new urgency with the recent faster growth experience of the most populous countries.