Counting the poor versus monitoring the floor: Understanding alternative perceptions of progress against poverty

One hears very different views within the development community on the question as to whether the world’s poorest are participating in the benefits of economic growth.1 One view is reflected in John F Kennedy’s famous aphorisms that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’ or claims that ‘growth is good for the poor’ (Dollar and Kraay 2002) and that the poor are ‘breaking through from the bottom’ (Radelet 2015). However, other observers appear to tell a very different story. For example, on launching the Millennium Goals Report (United Nations 2011) UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said that: ‘The poorest of the world are being left behind. We need to reach out and lift them into our lifeboat.’ Something like this alternative view is heard often in the development community.2