Growth Not Good For the Poor

Despite the fastest growth rate in the world, the poor in China are unable to share in the gains (or even just keep up). That's the word from a World Bank study reported in the FT.

Real incomes of the poorest 10 percent fell 2.4 percent--and not due to bad agricultural prices.

This probably vastly understates poverty, as China uses a poverty line of US$83 a year, or 5 percent of per capita income, whereas for example the U.S. uses a poverty line of roughly 12 percent of average income (and this line is still woefully low).