Do the Rich Get Richer, Do the Poor Get Poorer? East Java, Two Decades, Three Villages, 46 People

Abstract

Based on village observation over a span of 20 years, this paper details changes in the per capita income distribution of 46 families from three representative villages in East Java. It presents two separate measurements of the “rich”, “middlerdquo; and “poorrdquo;, showing changes in the distribution of wealth both in cohorts comprising unchanging groups of families and in percentile wealth groupings. Relative cohort inequity decreased markedly, with the poor improving their position much faster than the rich. Relative percentile inequity increased slightly. In terms of buying power, both the poor cohort and the poor percentile became significantly wealthier. These data indicate that the view that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer is clearly over-generalised. These poor became significantly richer.