Following the 1998 financial crisis, four out of every ten people slipped into poverty, not able to meet basic needs. Luckily, post-crisis economic rebound was impressive and broad-based ? albeit ...uneven ? across sectors and regions. This title explores the nature of poverty, both nationally and regionally, to identify the groups with a high poverty risk. It then examines growth-poverty linkages through the labor market, as well as the contribution of growth and inequality to the recent poverty reduction. It also considers the expected impact of WTO accession on overall growth and poverty. Finally, it focuses on the scope for improving social policy in ways that will have a direct impact on the poor.
This volume provides a set of six case studies from West Africa. These assess the benefits of growth (or the costs of a lack of growth) in terms of poverty reduction in those countries. The first ...part of this book describes the experience of two countries (Ghana and Senegal) that achieved high levels of growth in the 1990s, and that also experienced important reductions in poverty, even though growth was not strictly pro-poor. The second part describes the experience of two other countries (Burkina Faso and Cape Verde) that also achieved high levels of growth in the 1990s, but where there was an initial perception that growth did not lead to much poverty reduction. The more detailed analysis of poverty presented here suggests however that these two countries did witness a sharp reduction in their population share in poverty, as would have been expected given their growth record. Finally, in the third part, the authors argue that a lack of growth in the 1990s in Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria has been a key reason for their persistently high levels of poverty. Overall, the case studies in this Working Paper make a strong case for the positive impact of growth on poverty reduction in West Africa. However, they also point to the need to pay close attention to changes in inequality, because such changes have limited the gains from growth for the poor in several of the countries considered here.
Poverty Alleviation in Jordan Shaban, Radwan A; Abu-Ghaida, Dina; Al-Naimat, Abdel-Salam ...
2000, 06-30-2001, 2001-06
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This report draws lessons for improving the policy design of poverty alleviation schemes in Jordan. The conclusions herein are based on analyses of trends in consumption poverty in Jordan and ...assessment of the impact of government programs (including food subsidies and cash transfers) on poverty alleviation in the 1990s. Poverty declined between 1992 and 1997 because inequality declined. Government programs, especially those targeted to the poor like the National Aid Fund, contributed to poverty alleviation. However, poverty continues to be a major policy challenge for Jordan: the poor and near-poor remain vulnerable as a result of the shallowness of poverty in Jordan (Many people are concentrated close to the poverty line) and the adverse effects of potential shocks. The report concludes the following: 1) Sustainable poverty reduction requires resumption and sustainability of growth. 2) There is a need for a policy response to the vulnerability of the poor and near-poor to economic shocks. 3) The capacity of the National Aid Fund (NAF) needs to be significantly enhanced. 4) Continued priority needs to be placed on human development policies, particularly those affecting the poor.
When the World Bank dreams of “a world free of poverty,” what should it be dreaming? In measuring global income or consumption expenditure poverty, the World Bank has widely adopted the $1 a day ...standard as a lower bound. Because this standard is based on poverty lines in the poorest countries, anyone with income or expenditures below this line will truly be poor. But there is no consensus standard for the upper bound of the global poverty line: above what level of income or expenditures is someone truly not poor? This article proposes that the World Bank compute its lower and upper bounds in a methodologically equivalent way, using the poverty lines of the poorest countries for the lower bound and the poverty lines of the richest countries for the upper bound. The resulting upper bound global poverty line would be 10 times higher than the current lower bound and at least 5 times higher than the currently used alternative lower bound of $2 a day. And in tracking progress toward a world free of poverty, the World Bank should compute measures of global poverty using a variety of weights on the depth and intensity of poverty for a range of poverty lines between the global lower and upper bounds. For instance, rather than trying to artificially force the global population of 6.2 billion (a billion is 1,000 million) into just two categories “poor” and “not poor,” with the new range of poverty lines the estimates would be that 1.3 billion people are “destitute” (below $1 a day), another 1.6 billion are in “extreme poverty” (above $1 a day but below $2 dollar a day), and another 2.5 billion are in “global poverty” (above extreme poverty but below the upper bound poverty line).
Miracle reductions in absolute poverty led China to announce, in late 2019, the strategic change from targeting absolute poverty to targeting relative poverty. After highlighting China's success in ...the fight against absolute poverty, this paper attempts to assess the roles of growth and income inequality in affecting both absolute and relative poverty rates. Poverty decomposition and panel-VAR modelling results show that growth played an overwhelming role in achieving the miracle of poverty reduction but relative poverty has been consistently rising. And growth, contrary to the case of absolute poverty, actually has contributed to the rising trend of relative poverty. Conversely, income inequality has played a small role in aggravating absolute poverty but a moderate role in raising relative poverty. Therefore, it seems appropriate for China to continue targeting absolute poverty with a higher poverty line. In the case that China insists on shifting the poverty alleviation strategy, market-led growth can no longer be relied on to reduce relative poverty. Instead, government-led pro-poor policies must be instituted by providing employment, education, training and other opportunities to the disadvantaged groups, in addition to the usual social assistance.
•Use poverty decomposition and panel-VAR modelling to assess and compare the roles of income growth and income inequality in affecting absolute and relative poverty rates in China.•Miracle reduction in absolute poverty is completely attributable to fast growth, while income inequality played a small aggravating role.•Relative poverty has been rising in China, largely driven by fast growth and to a moderate extend by income inequality.•It is suggested that in the short- and medium-run China shall continue to target absolute poverty with a higher poverty line, rather than shifting policy direction to focus on relative poverty.
A New Profile of the Global Poor Castañeda, Andrés; Doan, Dung; Newhouse, David ...
World development,
January 2018, 2018-01, 2018-01-00, 20180101, Letnik:
101
Journal Article
Recenzirano
•This study examines the characteristics of the global extreme and moderate poor.•The face of poverty is primarily rural and young.•There is little gender inequality in poor children’s educational ...attainment.•Primary school completion and non-agricultural employment distinguish the moderate from the extreme poor.•Households in rural areas and those containing large numbers of children are central to poverty reduction.
This paper presents a new demographic profile of extreme and moderate poverty, defined as those living on less than $1.90 and between $1.90 and $3.10 per day in 2013, based on household survey data from 89 developing countries. The face of poverty is primarily rural and young; 80% of the extreme poor and 75% of the moderate poor live in rural areas. Over 45% of the extreme poor are children younger than 15years old, and nearly 60% of the extreme poor live in households with three or more children. Gender differences in poverty rates are muted, and there is scant evidence of gender inequality in poor children’s educational attainment. A sizable share of the extreme and moderate poor, 40 and 50%, respectively, have completed primary school. Compared with the extreme poor, the moderate poor are significantly more likely to have completed primary school and are less likely to work in agriculture. After conditioning on other individual and household characteristics, having fewer than three children, having greater educational attainment, and living in an urban area are strongly and positively associated with welfare. The results reinforce the central importance of households in rural areas and those containing large numbers of children in efforts to reduce extreme poverty, and are consistent with increased educational attainment and urbanization hastening poverty reduction.
Beating the Odds Fox, Louise M; Benfica, Rui
2008, 07-25-2008, 20080101
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The story of Mozambique is one of successful transformation. Since 1994, when it faced a decimated infrastructure, a weak economy, and fragile institutions, it has sustained high economic growth and ...has made tangible reductions in poverty. Its recovery from civil conflict and extreme poverty make it a showcase for other nations embarking on similar transitions. Still, more than half of the population lives in poverty. Gaps persist between city dwellers and farmers, men and women, rich and poor. And although growth continues, there is concern that Mozambiques drive to reduce poverty may lose momentum as happens in many countries recovering from conflict. If the successes of the past are to be extended into the future, policy makers must take stock of what has worked and what has not as they develop new ways of improving the living standards of all Mozambicans. Beating the Odds: Sustaining Inclusion in Mozambiques Growing Economy focuses on changes in poverty and household community welfare from 1997 through 2003. It uses monetary, human, and social indicators in combination with quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand poverty trends within the country and the dynamics that shaped them. Intended to support the development and implementation of pro-poor policies, its integration of poverty, gender, and social analysis will be of particular interest to policy makers, development practitioners, academics, and researchers.
The Invisible Poor Demombynes, Gabriel; Verner, Dorte
2010, 2008, 04-14-2010, 2010-02-01, Letnik:
v.No.183
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Many of the poorest Argentines are invisible in official statistics. Four million rural residents and another 12 million in small urban areas lie outside the reach of the Permanent Household Survey ...(EPH), which is the basis for poverty figures and most data on social conditions in the country. According to the best estimate, roughly a third of rural residents, more than a million people, live in poverty. The urban bias common too many countries have been accentuated by the lack of data on the rural poor. With little information on their condition, it is exceedingly difficult for policy makers to design policies and programs to help move people out of poverty. The report is organized as follows: chapter one profiles rural poverty base on the limited existing data, including the first in-depth analysis of rural poverty ever conducted with the 2001 population census. Chapter two presents findings from the new qualitative study of the rural poor conducted in the first half of 2007. Finally, chapter three concludes with a discussion of methodology for rural poverty analysis, focusing on the issues related to expanding the EPH to full national coverage.
El objetivo del trabajo fue establecer si la pobreza se incremento o disminuyo en Mexico durante los ultimos anos, asi como indicar en que entidades federativas se padece en mayor medida. El ensayo ...siguio el metodo deductivo, paradigma hermeneutico, enfoque analitico y diseno explicativo. La pobreza multidimensional sera aquella donde se carece de alguno de estos seis indicadores (educacion, salud, seguridad social, vivienda, acceso a alimentacion nutritiva y de calidad); mientras que la pobreza extrema permite identificar a la poblacion que, aun destinando todo su ingreso a la compra de alimentos, no puede adquirir la canasta alimentaria, y la pobreza moderada es la que si puede adquirirla. En 2022, 46,8 millones de mexicanos padecen de pobreza multidimensional (36,3 % de la poblacion), conformandose por 37,7 millones con pobreza moderada (29,2 %) y 9,1 millones con pobreza extrema (7,1 %); ademas, 56,1 millones padecen pobreza por ingreso (43,2 %). Las entidades con mayor pobreza multidimensional son: Chiapas con el 67,4 %; Guerrero, 60,4 %; Oaxaca, 58,4 %; Puebla, 54 %; Veracruz, 51,7 %; y Estado de Mexico, 42,9 %. Estas seis entidades concentran a 24 millones de personas (55,6 % del total), y son las mismas con mayor pobreza extrema (6,1 millones de personas, que representan el 67,5 % del total). A nivel internacional, Mexico ocupa la posicion 70 de 111 naciones en el Indice de Pobreza Multidimensional.
Brazil, China, and India have seen falling poverty in their reform periods, but to varying degrees and for different reasons. History left China with favorable initial conditions for rapid poverty ...reduction through market-led economic growth; at the outset of the reform process there were many distortions to be removed and a relatively low inequality of access to the opportunities so created, though inequality has risen markedly since. By concentrating such opportunities in the hands of the better off, prior inequalities in various dimensions handicapped poverty reduction in both Brazil and India. Brazil's recent success in complementing market-oriented reforms with progressive social policies has helped it achieve a higher proportionate rate of poverty reduction than India, although Brazil has been less successful in terms of economic growth. In the wake of its steep rise in inequality, China might learn from Brazil's success with such policies. India needs to do more to assure that poor people are able to participate in both the country's growth process and its social policies; here there are lessons from both China and Brazil. All three countries have learned how important macroeconomic stability is to poverty reduction.
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