Over the last decade, the Zambian government has implemented wide-ranging economic reforms to stabilise and transform the economy. Has structural reform had a positive or a negative impact upon poverty and inequality? Research by the UK Institute of Development Studies traces the effects of a range of economic policies on urban and rural households in Zambia. The study suggests that stabilisation gave rise to a sharp increase in poverty in the early 1990s. However, subsequent growth has reduced poverty, particularly in rural areas, although this has been accompanied by an increase in inequality.