• ECONOMIC GROWTH
• INCOME INEQUALITY AND POVERT

Abstract
This thesis studies the relationship between poverty, income inequality and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Employing both microdata of some selected countries in the subregion and a macroeconomy panel of all 48 countries from 1995 to 2015. From both macro and micro evidence, this study shows that while increasing economic growth results in poverty reduction, the presence of high inequality can largely alter this relationship. Further, with the Markov transition matrix, we show that while households have potentials to exit poverty (40.3 percent), there are substantial numbers of non-poor households which are at a risk of transitioning into poverty (33.7 percent). The household consumption risk is dependent on the household size, educational attainment of the head of the household, sex of the head, marital status (presence of the spouse) and age of the head. The study concludes that a balanced approach to economic growth and income redistribution is needed to reduce poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Key words: Poverty, income inequality, economic growth, transition, sub-Saharan Africa.