Economic Growth and Living Standards in the Americas

on the assumption that the achievement of higher levels of income is con? ducive to improvement in living standards and enhancement of human welfare. If growth of per capita income is used as measure of the rate of economic development, one must conclude that development policies in the post-war period have been extremely successful. The achievement of yearly increases of real GNP per person in excess of two percent in most countries of Latin America and several developing countries in Africa and Asia, in spite of extraordinary growth of population, is remarkable performance. If the success of development policies is evaluated by their ability to reduce income inequality and improve the economic conditions of the poor, the results are not so favorable. In number of Asian and African countries, in fact, sizable proportion of the population still re? ceives less than half of the international poverty line income of $100 year. Even in some of the most prosperous countries of Latin America, such as Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela and Argentina, the income of the poorest fifth of the population is, according to the Economic Com? mission for Latin America [1970], less than 25 percent of the national average. The relationship between economic growth and income distribution has received considerable attention by economists. Simon Kuznets [1955], for example, has introduced the hypothesis of a long swing in the in? equality characterizing the secular income structure: widening in the early phases of economic growth when the transition from the pre-indus trial to the industrial civilization was most rapid; becoming stabilized for while; and then narrowing in the later phases. [p. 18]. * Assistant Professor and Professor of Economics, respectively. The authors are thankful to Bharrat Latchman for excellent research assistance and to F. J. Ander? son, N. C. Bonsor, T. D. Harris, G. P. Knapp, C. A. Nicolaou and the referees, Richard J. Ward and William E. McFarland, for valuable comments

Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic growth · Economic inequality · Economics · Human development (humanity) · Income distribution · Inequality · Latin Americans · Per capita income · Political science · Population · Population growth · Poverty · Standard of living · Welfare · Demography · Economic Theory and Policy · Income, Poverty, and Inequality

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