Growth and inequality Having examined the relationship between inequality and levels ofper capita in come let us look now at the relationship, if any, between economie growth and in equality Figure 5.13, we have plotted rates of growth ofGNIfor 13 developimg countries on the horizontal axisand the growth rate ofincome ofthe lowest 40% of their population along the vertical axis. The data are for the time span shown in parentheses aftereach country and the scatterisintended to reveal any obvious re- lationships between GNI growth rates and improvements in relative income levels for the poor Each country's data, therefore, are plotted in the figure at a point re- flecting its combination ofGNI growth and the income growthofthelowest 40% of its population. Countries above the45-degree line are those where the distribution of income improved--that is, the incomes of the bottom 40% grew faster than the overall GNI growth rate- whereas countries below the 45-degree line experienced a worsening of their income distributions over the indicated period. The scatter of points in Figure 5.13 does not reveal any strong or obvious rela tionship between GNI growth and the distribution of income, s High grovth rates do not necessarily worsen the distribution of income, as some observers have sug Indeed, countries like Taiwan and South Korea experienced relatively high rates of growth exhibited improved at distributions of income. Nevertheless, countries like Mexico and Panama grew just as fastbutex