INCOME INEQUALITY IN RURAL PAKISTAN: A study of sample villages

Overall income inequality is decomposed into the contribution of various income sources. Wage employment, nonfarm enterprise, and livestock were found to be inequality-mitigating. Unequal access to land was the major influence upon income inequality, directly through highly unequal crop incomes and indirectly through inequity created in other income opportunities. The. brief analysis of poverty suggests that rural poverty is largely borne by those with disadvantaged access to land. The situation of the landless demands more attention for this agrarian group than usually accorded in anti-poverty programs.