Over the last 30 years, as a result of very high rates of growth, China has reduced poverty despite increasing income inequality. Similarly, in the early 2000s, Brazil used targeted policies to reduce poverty despite high income inequality—though income distribution became more equal over this period. The sharpest contractions in growth after 1975 occurred in countries with divided societies (as measured by indicators of inequality and ethnic fragmentation). But even these basic policy instruments may not empower disenfranchised groups.