We come now to the motivating question of this book: Who benefits how much from economic growth and why? We saw in earlier chapters that the development performances of some countries far exceeded those of others. In some cases, the poor benefited substantially from economic growth; in other cases, they did not. Inequality rose in half the countries studied and fell in the other half. Why? What accounts for differences among countries in poverty, inequality, and development? This chapter takes a first step toward clarifying these crucial issues.

Analyzed here are the development experiences of six countries–Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, India, Brazil, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Although each country study is necessarily brief, I have tried in each instance to highlight the available information on poverty, inequality, and development strategy. Accordingly, the country studies have four methodological themes in common.

One unifying theme is a concern with the overall distribution of income. Many accounts of development experiences select particular groups for attention. Some, particularly the studies of national planning departments and international development agencies, single out the beneficiaries: the small farmers whose lands become irrigated, the newly electrified urban neighborhood, the peasants' children studying abroad, and so on.