the results suggest that it would be wrong to propose the same policy options to all countries as the sensitivity of the poverty rate depends on its initial level and the degree of inequality this being so we can conclude that the high inequality and tow initial development level of most brazilian states are impediments to alleviating poverty by improving incomes the same is true of the interaction between the inequality variable and its initial level thus the effect of the change in inequality on poverty reduction is smaller when the initial development level is low or when the initial inequality level is high in other words a decline in income inequality may be less effective at decreasing poverty in regions that suffer from a low initial development level high initial inequality or both