The socio-economic literature has focused much on how overall inequality in income distribution (frequently measured by the Gini coefficient) undermines the “trickle down” effect. In other words, the higher the inequality in the income distribution, the lower is the growth elasticity of poverty. However, with the publication of Piketty’s magnum opus (2014), and a subsequent study by Chancel and Piketty (2017) of evolution of income inequality in India since 1922, the focus has shifted to the income disparity between the richest 1% (or 0.01%) and the bottom 50%. Their central argument is that the rapid growth of income at the top end of millionaires and billionaires is a by-product of growth. The present study extends this argument by linking it to poverty indices in India. Based on the India Human Development Survey 2005–12 – a nationwide panel survey-we examine the links between poverty and income inequality, especially in the upper tail relative to the bottom 50%, state affluence (measured in per capita income) and their interaction or their joint effect. Another feature of our research is that we analyse their effects on the FGT class of poverty indices. The results are similar in as much as direction of association is concerned but the elasticities vary with the poverty index. The growth elasticities are negative and significant for all poverty indices. In all three cases, the disparity between the income share of the top 1% and share of the bottom 50% is associated with greater poverty. These elasticities are much higher than the (absolute) income elasticities except in the case of the poverty gap. The largest increase occurs in the poverty gap squared – a 1% greater income disparity is associated with a 1.24% higher value of this index. Thus the consequences of even a small increase in the income disparity are alarming for the poorest.

社会经济文献关注的重点是收入分配的总体不平等（通常由基尼系数来衡量）如何破坏“ the细流”效应。换句话说，收入分配的不平等程度越高，贫困的增长弹性越小。然而，随着Piketty的巨著（2014）的发表以及Chancel和Piketty（2017）随后对印度收入不平等的演变进行的研究（1922），焦点已转移到收入差距最大的1％（或0.01）之间％）和最低50％。他们的中心论点是，百万富翁和亿万富翁的收入快速增长是增长的副产品。本研究通过将其与印度的贫困指数联系起来，扩展了这一论点。基于2005-12年印度人类发展调查–一项全国性的小组调查，我们研究了贫困与收入不平等之间的联系，尤其是在相对于最底层的50％的上​​尾巴，国家富裕程度（以人均收入衡量）及其相互作用或共同影响。我们研究的另一个特点是，我们分析了它们对FGT贫困指数类别的影响。就结社方向而言，结果相似，但弹性随贫困指数而变化。对于所有贫困指数，增长弹性都是负的，并且是重要的。在所有这三种情况下，收入最高的1％的收入份额与收入最低的50％的收入份额之间的差距与贫困加剧有关。这些弹性要比（绝对）收入弹性要高得多，除非出现贫富差距。最大的增加发生在贫困差距的平方上–收入差距增加1％与该指数的价值提高1.24％相关。因此，即使收入差距小幅增长的后果也使最贫穷的人感到震惊。