Showing papers on "Poverty published in 1977"

The poverty line: Concept and measurement

Abstract: In this paper, a new approach to defining the poverty line is proposed in which family heads are asked what they consider a minimal income level for their own family. It was found that the respondents appeared to specify higher amounts, the greater their actual income and family size, and that the relationship was loglinear. For each family size there is an income level at which a respondent's stated minimum income is equal to his actual income. This level is taken as a definition of the poverty line. The poverty line thus defined varies with family size.

The Time-Poor: A New Look at Poverty.

Abstract: If the minimal nonpoor level of consumption requires both money and household production, then the official poverty standards do not correctly measure household needs. Any income-support program that corrects for money differences but not for time differences across households will discriminate against households with only one adult. Furthermore, such programs will provide financial incentives for households to form in certain ways. This paper sets up a two-dimensional poverty definition and then shows how this standard can be used to define voluntary versus involuntary poverty. Since the official poverty index was developed in the mid-1960s by the Social Security Administration (SSA) [7, 8], their categorization by income has been accepted as an equitable criterion with which to compare different types of households. As a result, policy-makers have thought that adjusting the benefit structure of an income-transfer program for money differentials across households corrected for the resource differences of these households. But households differ in their time resources as well as their money income. This paper argues that to base the benefit schedule of an income-support program on an index that defines poverty in terms of money income alone is to create gross inequities The author is Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley. * This paper benefited from comments made on an earlier draft by Barbara Bergmann, Nancy Chodorow, Frances Flanagan, Gillian Garcia, Aaron Gordon, Mel Jameson, Theodore Keeler, Harold Wilensky, Michael Wiseman, and Lloyd Ulman. Cynthia Rence provided invaluable assistance. Financial support was provided by the U.S. Department of Labor under Research Grant No. 72-06-74-04 and the Institute of Industrial Relations. Since grantees conducting research projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express their judgment freely, this paper does not necessarily represent the official opinion or policy of the Department of Labor. The author is solely responsible for its contents. [Manuscript received February 1976; accepted July 1976.] The Journal of Human Resources * XII * 1 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.54 on Thu, 30 Jun 2016 06:06:26 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 28 I THE JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCES across households that vary in their number of adult hours. The equity problem, important in itself, takes on added significance when it creates incentives for individuals to adjust their living arrangements, and the problem becomes aggravated if the household structure appears to be in a transitional phase as in the 1970s. The impact of an income-maintenance scheme on the structure of households may prove to be more important over the long run than the program's influence on the labor supply, an issue that has captured the attention of economists and policy-makers. This paper attempts to shift the focus of attention by laying a foundation for analyzing the economic incentives for household formation implicit in proposed income-maintenance programs. First, a poverty standard in terms of both time and money inputs is defined. In this definition, the necessity of home production for the well-being of the household's members is emphasized. Then a measure of this generalized poverty standard is used to estimate the number of additional female-headed families who would be counted as poor because of a deficiency of nonmarket time. The policy implications of the new definition are explored by using the index to distinguish among the hard-core poor, the temporary poor, and the voluntary poor, and to estimate the potential poverty population. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy dilemmas posed by the potential interaction between benefit schedules and household composition.

Economics for a developing world: An introduction to principles, problems and policies for development

Abstract: Part 1: principles and concepts - economics - its nature and importance for developing nations economic systems and Third World economies important concepts and principles - I important concepts and principles - II common characteristics of developing countries the meaning of development economic growth - causes and characteristics economic growth and development - lessons and controversies. Part 2: problems and policies - domestic - growth, poverty and income distribution - theory and evidence attacking poverty and inequality - the policy options the great population debate economics of population and development unemployment - dimensions of a global problem rural to urban migration - theory and policy agricultural stagnation and agrarian structures subsistence agriculture and rural development the economics of education education and development - issues and options. Part 3: problems and policies - international - international trade and economic development - the traditional view trade and development - theory and reality.

Aspects of poverty in malaysia

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the definition and measurement of poverty in Malaysia. A poverty line is estimated after considering both the absolute and relative approaches to the definition. Various indices of poverty are discussed, ranging from the simple “incidence of poverty” measure to others which take account of the “poverty gap”. There is a derivation of a new index due to Sen, and alternative normalizations are suggested for it. Estimates of all these measures are presented for Malaysia. Finally, the simple “incidence of poverty” measure, which is decomposable, is adopted to construct a “profile” of the poor in Malaysia.

The antipoverty effectiveness of in-kind transfers.

Abstract: In recording its poverty statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau ignores the impact of in-kind transfers on the extent of poverty. In this paper, we estimate that when in-kind food, housing, and medical care transfers are counted and measured at their cash-equivalent value, and when Census income is adjusted for underreporting, federal taxes, and intrahousehold income-sharing, the 1972 poverty count and the poverty gap are halved. In addition, we find that in-kind transfers are relatively inefficient devices for reducing income poverty, delivering only about 31 cents of anitpoverty effect per dollar of program cost.

Population, Prosperity and Poverty: Rural Kano, 1900 and 1970

Abstract: 1. The economic relationship between city and countryside in 1900 2. Indirect rule as rural non-rule 3. The Kano Close Settled Zone 4. A brief introduction to Dorayi 5. The consequences of persistent population pressure: a summary 6. The evidence for economic inequality 7. The attitude to farmland 8. The married son 9. The failure to migrate 10. The rich men 11. Extreme poverty 12. The big house 13. From slavery to freedom: farm-slavery in Dorayi List of References Index.

Numbers Gambling Among Blacks: A Financial Institution

Abstract: Mainstream financial institutions have never been able to provide generally prevailing service levels in poor communities. In the resulting partial-service vacuum, blacks invented numbers gambling. Numbers-gambling banks became sources of capital and a major savings device of urban black communities. In conjunction with the usury industry, numbers banks framed an alternative institutional system for the savings-investment cycle in the slum. Numbers banking illustrates the conjoint contribution of institutional and cultural causes in analysis of poverty.

Who Benefits from Economic Development? - A Reexamination of Brazilian Growth in the 1960's

Abstract: [Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to reexamine one of these two challenges, namely, the distributional impact of Brazilian economic growth during the 1960's. My results lead to a quite different interpretation from the conventional one. I will show that the poor in Brazil did participate in the rapid economic growth of the decade. Estimates presented below indicate that average real incomes among families defined as poor by Brazilian standards increased by as much as 60 percent while the comparable figure for nonpoor families is around 25 percent. However, since nonpoor families receive incomes which are much greater than those of poor families, the bulk of the growth of national income over the decade was received by families whose incomes placed them above the official poverty standard. Thus, it would be incorrect to say either that 1) in achieving a high rate of economic growth in Brazil the rich got absolutely richer while the poor got absolutely poorer, or 2) the incomes of poor families increased more slowly (percentagewise) than those of nonpoor families. These and other findings are presented below in Section II, and some of the reasons for the observed changes are discussed in Section III. In assessing the distributional consequences of Brazilian economic growth, this study explicitly adopts an absolute poverty approach. In so doing, it is at odds with the bulk of the economic development literature, which while urging a poverty focus, has long relied on measures of relative income inequality and Lorenz curves. Thus, this paper does not merely offer "one more measure"; it is, rather, the use of a different type of measure that causes the divergent results. The paper concludes in Section IV by reviewing the principal findings and exploring some further questions of more general applicability raised by the Brazilian debate.

Development, poverty, and basic human needs : some issues

Abstract: Cross-national data seem to support the hypothesis that as development proceeds, income inequality worsens before it improves. However, this is not an iron law of development, as is evident from the variations in the performances of different countries. Evidence concerning the relationship between GNP growth and absolute poverty is mixed; poverty has been significantly reduced in some, but not in other rapidly growing countries. A shift of development policy to the provision of basic needs to target groups through selective interventions in the production and distribution processes appears to be based upon flawed reasoning. The same institutional bottlenecks that prevent the benefits of growth from reaching the poor persist regardless of development policy. Therefore, growth policies should be supplemented by strategies directed toward better distribution of the growth benefits and experimentation with alternative delivery systems. An understanding of the sociopolitical characteristics of the development process is the basis of a framework for defining and evaluating alternative development strategies for poverty alleviation. 25 references.

Government Policy and the Distribution of Income in Peru, 1963–1973

Abstract: For the past decade, the redistribution of income has been a key element in Peruvian governmental policy. Both the Belaunde and Velasco regimes professed a deep concern with economic injustice, and they have been regarded as models of peaceful progress toward social justice. Despite its good intentions, Richard Webb shows, the government has had little impact on the rigid imbalance of wealth in Peru. The rich have continued to get richer faster than the poor have got less poor.Inequality has grown, and those most in need of improvement have benefited least. The tax structure has actually become more regressive, with taxes raised most on middle-income groups and least on the very rich. Overall, the Peruvian government's economic policy has been mildly progressive, but not progressive enough to have an appreciable effect on the widespread poverty. What is needed, Webb argues, are movements of capital from the modern sector of the economy to the traditional sector to create new jobs for the poor. Finally, substantial redistribution seems to require changes in attitude. The elimination of poverty must precede a concern for equity per se, and the needs of the very poor must acquire the status of rights rather than claims to compassion. "

Earnings Capacity, Economic Status, and Poverty.

Abstract: Whether or not a household is counted among the poor depends upon its annual money income. As a measure of economic status, however, annual money income has serious limitations. In this paper an alternative indicator of economic status, called earnings capacity, is developed. Earnings capacity is designed to measure the ability of a living unit to generate an income stream if it were to use its physical and human capital at capacity. Using this measure, the composition of the poverty population is estimated and compared to the composition of the poverty population according to the official definition. In addition, the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of poverty as measured by earnings capacity and by annual money income are compared and contrasted. The problem of accurately measuring the economic status of family units and individuals is of long standing in both poverty research and analyses of horizontal and vertical inequality. The standard indicator of economic status-annual family money income-is the basis both for the official definition of poverty in the United States and for nearly all studies of economic inequality. Yet the limitations of the money income measure as an indicator of both the command over goods and services and relative economic status are often noted. Annual money income fails to incorporate the value of human and nonhuman capital into the measure of economic status; it neglects the benefits of in-kind public Garfinkel is Professor of Social Work and Director, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, Haveman is Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin. * The research reported here was supported by funds granted to the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare pursuant to the provisions of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The opinions expressed are those of the authors. [Manuscript received August 1975; accepted January 1976.] The Journal of Human Resources ' XII ? I This content downloaded from 157.55.39.59 on Sat, 15 Oct 2016 04:15:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 50 1 THE JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCES transfers and public services and the tax costs required to finance them; it does not account for intrafamily flows of income and services or for differences in leisure time; and, for many units, it is dominated in any given year by transitory influences. In short, annual money income is a seriously inadequate indicator of the potential real consumption of a living unit; yet it is the indicator most widely used. In this paper, an alternative indicator of economic status is suggested and estimated empirically for the national population. This indicator-earnings capacity-is designed to measure the ability of a living unit to generate an income stream if it were to use its physical and human capital at capacity.' Using this measure, the composition of the poverty population is estimated and compared with the composition of the poverty population according to the official definition. Because of the characteristics of the concept, the poverty population defined by earnings capacity will be relatively more heavily populated by those with a low permanent income than will the poverty population defined by the intertemporally unstable concept of annual money income.2 Moreover, living units will not be included in the poverty population simply because they have relatively strong preferences for leisure rather than for money income.

Malaria and the political economy of public health.

Abstract: After more than a decade when the disease was under increasing control, malaria has been making a dramatic resurgence in the 1970s. Even more troubling has been the inadequacy of government respons...

Kural and urban attitudes toward welfare

Abstract: Mary H. Osgood, MS, is Instructor in Rural Sociology, College of Agricul ture, Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Research for this article was supported by funds from Title V of the Rural Development Act of 1972. The author wishes to thank R. Richard Ritti and his staff for making data appearing in this article available to her for analysis and Kenneth P. Wilkinson and Joan S. Thompson for their comments. RURAL ATTITUDES Rur^l poverty in the United States census received welfare, whereas in continues to be more acute, though Philadelphia County, 35 percent of less visible, than urban poverty. As these families received welfare.3 Be distance from an urban center incause federal program allocations are creases, so does the incidence of povusually based on current participation erty. In the most distant and sparsely rates, low participation serves to lower settled counties, the poverty rate is the amount of federal money allocated 2V2 times that in metropolitan areas; to rural areas, nearly half (44 percent) of the na tion's poor reside in nonmetropolitan areas.1 Despite the high incidence of rural poverty, however, urban areas Why are welfare^ programs in urban receive a greater percentage of govareas used more heavily than those in ernment assistance funds than their rural areas? Implicit in many proposed rural counterparts. In 1974, nonmetroexplanations is the assumption that politan areas received only about onefundamental differences exist between fourth of the federal outlay for inrural and urban attitudes toward wel come security and other welfare profare. It has been suggested that these grams.2 attitudinal differences are manifested Reasons for lower outlays in rural ln such ways as the following: adher areas relate both to program characence to the concept of local control teristics as well as to certain rural bemay prevent certain rural areas from havioral tendencies. Some programs applying for federal grants; local gov have built-in biases against rural areas, ernments may be unable—or unwilling For example, programs set up under —to master the bureaucratic proce the Comprehensive Employment and dures involved in getting projects Training Act (CETA) calculate benefunded; and administrative policies fits on the basis of unemployment and case-by-case practices may tend rates, which are particularly misleadto be more restrictive in rural than ing indicators of poverty in rural areas ln urban areas. because of the way in which they are Other explanations have attributed reported and computed. Furthermore, low rural participation rates to certain because an area must have a populafactors presumably found in nonmet tion base of 100,000 in order for the ropolitan areas, such as a lack of local government to be a prime sponknowledge about available programs, sor or administrator for CETA proinadequate financial support for local grams, rural areas usually fall into public assistance offices, scarcity of groupings administered by the state trained personnel, lack of confiden rather than by a local government tiality for the recipient (everyone more likely to be aware of local probknows and talks about the fact that lems and needs. a certain family is on welfare), apathy However, behavioral tendencies and because the problem of poverty has attitudes in rural areas may have even been serious for so long that its ex more influence than program requireistence becomes accepted as inevitable, ments on the amount of government and community attitudes of oppres money going to these areas. Participasion and aggressiveness toward the tion rates in welfare programs are poor.4 lower in rural than in urban areas. In Are attitudes toward welfare pro Pennsylvania, for example, four of the grams in fact more negative in rural five counties with the highest percenthan in urban areas, thus reducing tages of families on welfare in 1970 program participation rates and cre were in Standard Metropolitan Statisating poverty problems of greater tical Areas (SMSAs). In many less severity? The author examines this urbanized areas, such as Butler question by first reviewing previous County in western Pennsylvania, only studies of attitudes toward welfare 11 percent of the families having an and then by presenting data on rural income below the national poverty urban attitudinal differences from a level as determined by the 1970 U.S. study conducted in Pennsylvania.

Increasing Poverty and Changing Ideas about Development Strategies

Abstract: In the Third World as a whole the rate of growth in the last quarter century or so has been unprecedented. Never before have so many poor countries—containing such a large proportion of those who are inadequately fed, clothed and housed—enjoyed such a period of rapid and sustained expansion of output. Yet despite this growth of production the problems of widespread poverty seem to have remained as great as ever. The rise in aggregate production does not seem to have been matched by a corresponding rise in the income of the poor.

The economic scene

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the different aspects related to the emerging economic scene. The basic economic and social problem the United Nations has faced during the last three decades is that of global poverty. Efforts to close the gap between the world's rich and poor have been continuous over the past 30 years but, for a variety of reasons, there has been little success. Analyses of this experience led the developing countries to conclude that though their situations and problems differed widely, they did share one overwhelming problem—a system of global rules and practices that worked consistently against their interests. The essence of the new order demanded by the developing countries is their full and complete economic emancipation. The General Assembly followed its call for the establishment of a New International Economic Order with the adoption, in December 1974, of a Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States.