Beyond Categories: Power, Recognition and the Conditions for Equity
BEYOND CATEGORIES: POWER, RECOGNITION AND THE CONDITIONS FOR EQUITY Background Paper for the World Development Report 2006 DISCUSSION DRAFT. NOT TO BE DISTRIBUTED, CITED OR REPRODUCED. Joy M. Moncrieffe Overseas Development Institute, London December 2004 1 Introduction The World Development Report (WDR) 2006 will reflect some important shifts in popular thinking about the relationship between inequality, growth and poverty. First, it will refute the Kuznetsian position that inequality has an invariably positive role and will, instead, assert that high levels of inequality can curtail the potential poverty-reducing impact of growth; conversely, where there is low or falling inequality, lower income groups will have a larger share of any increase in national income (Naschold 2002). Second, following Sen (1993; 1999) and others, the WDR will stress the importance of equity, arguing that poverty reflects deprivation in income and consumption, as well as in capabilities, such as health, education and civil liberties. It will maintain that individuals have differing levels of advantage, which, in addition to income, could be understood as their capability and freedom to make choices, and to convert their incomes into well-being—by establishing personal goals and having realistic means of attaining them. Therefore, it will attempt to define those policies and institutional arrangements that will supply the assets— political, social and economic—and opportunities that people in poverty need to transform their lives. Third, the report will draw on the ‘horizontal inequality’ thesis and, as Frances Stewart (2002) encourages, will expand its focus beyond individual preferences. Accordingly, the report will analyze how poverty and inequality affect different categories of people, recog- nizing that disparities—perceived and real—are among the fundamental causes of conflict, which often culminates in low growth.
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