Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?

In early modernization, reforms can remove arbitrary privilege—both freeing markets and helping the poor. Later, there is tension between redistributive and market reforms. The paper explores reform options by contrasting recent Asian experience with earlier experiences of Europe, especially Britain...

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Main Author: Michael Lipton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: World Scientific Publishing 1995-01-01
Series:Asian Development Review
Online Access:https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0116110595000017
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author Michael Lipton
author_facet Michael Lipton
author_sort Michael Lipton
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description In early modernization, reforms can remove arbitrary privilege—both freeing markets and helping the poor. Later, there is tension between redistributive and market reforms. The paper explores reform options by contrasting recent Asian experience with earlier experiences of Europe, especially Britain. The two great accelerations in world poverty reduction—Europe’s in 1750-1950, Asia’s since 1950—saw sharply increasing salience of redistributive reform. In 1950-75, such reform often proved disappointing for want of market reform; gains leaked to the rich and to bureaucrats via rent-seeking. Yet the reaction toward purely market reforms since 1980 has also disappointed many developing countries, because the decline in redistributive reforms has left many poor people without access to markets, land, or education. Market reforms often require land reform and / or “children’s reform” in order to succeed. Recent evidence confirms robust, positive relationships between reduced inequality and subsequent faster growth. In some policy areas (e.g., bequests taxation), incentives may benefit from redistributive reform.
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spelling doaj.art-6f32f54dbbe748e2a7d5cbad8c7d6f9f2023-06-28T07:12:25ZengWorld Scientific PublishingAsian Development Review0116-11051996-72411995-01-01130113510.1142/S0116110595000017Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?Michael LiptonIn early modernization, reforms can remove arbitrary privilege—both freeing markets and helping the poor. Later, there is tension between redistributive and market reforms. The paper explores reform options by contrasting recent Asian experience with earlier experiences of Europe, especially Britain. The two great accelerations in world poverty reduction—Europe’s in 1750-1950, Asia’s since 1950—saw sharply increasing salience of redistributive reform. In 1950-75, such reform often proved disappointing for want of market reform; gains leaked to the rich and to bureaucrats via rent-seeking. Yet the reaction toward purely market reforms since 1980 has also disappointed many developing countries, because the decline in redistributive reforms has left many poor people without access to markets, land, or education. Market reforms often require land reform and / or “children’s reform” in order to succeed. Recent evidence confirms robust, positive relationships between reduced inequality and subsequent faster growth. In some policy areas (e.g., bequests taxation), incentives may benefit from redistributive reform.https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0116110595000017
spellingShingle Michael Lipton
Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?
Asian Development Review
title Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?
title_full Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?
title_fullStr Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?
title_full_unstemmed Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?
title_short Market, Redistributive and Proto-Reform: Can Liberalization Help the Poor?
title_sort market redistributive and proto reform can liberalization help the poor
url https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0116110595000017
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