One explanation is that it is more difficult for growth opportunities and benefits to reach people whose residential locations, industries, and skills have not been incorporated into global value chains. It will be essential for policy makers in Asia to continue to introduce domestic policies that can enhance the inclusiveness of their hard-earned economic growth. II.
Poverty in Asia Nonetheless, the history of the Asian economy shows quite clearly that economic growth is a key driver of poverty reduction. In the past 50 years, extreme poverty has significantly decreased in Asia. Here, I refer to the World Bank's current definition of extreme poverty – living on less than 1.9 U.S. dollars a day.