Showing papers on "Poverty published in 1979"

Poverty in the United Kingdom : a survey of household resources and standards of living

Abstract: Breadline Britain-Stewart Lansley 2015-02-19 Poverty in Britain is at post-war highs and even with economic growth -is set to increase yet further. Food bank queues are growing, levels of severe deprivation have been rising, and increasing numbers of children are left with their most basic needs unmet. Based on exclusive access to the largest ever survey of poverty in the UK, and its predecessor surveys in the 1980s and 1990s, Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack track changes in deprivation and paint a devastating picture of the reality of poverty today and its causes. Shattering the myth that poverty is the fault of the poor and a generous benefit system, they show that the blame lies with the massive social and economic upheaval that has shifted power from the workforce to corporations and swelled the ranks of the working poor, a group increasingly at the mercy of low-pay, zero-hour contracts and downward social mobility. The high levels of poverty in the UK are not ordained but can be traced directly to the political choices taken by successive governments. Lansley and Mack outline an alternative economic and social strategy that is both perfectly feasible and urgently necessary if we are to reverse the course of the last three decades.

On measuring poverty

Abstract: This paper investigates the properties of various measures of poverty and of the “difficulty of alleviation of poverty”. It is found that the ranking properties of both kinds of indices can be quite counter-intuitive and that they could be misleading if used for policy evaluation. An alternative index is proposed; it is compared to the other indices and seems to fare rather well. To illustrate, a special reference is made to S. Anand's recent article on poverty in Malaysia.

Issues in the Measurement of Poverty

Abstract: The paper is concerned with discussing some of the basic issues in the measurement of poverty. The measurement of poverty can be split into two distinct operations, viz. identification (who are the poor?) and aggregation (how are the poverty characteristics of different people to be combined into an aggregate measure?). The nature of the exercise of poverty measurement is examined in Section I. Section II is devoted to the identification issue, including the fixation of a “poverty line”. Section III goes into the aggregation problem. Some concluding remarks are made in the last section.

Environmental policies in developing countries.

Abstract: The nations of the world are pursuing environmental protection at various speeds with different techniques but the available evidence seems to suggest that environmental policy in developing countries remains comparatively permissive. These countries do have major environmental problems but most of them are the result of poverty rather than affluence and socioeconomic needs are often seen as more pressing than the need for environmental controls. Underlying environmental policy in developing countries is discussed and 3 cases are examined: pollution caused by industrialization in Brazil; pollution caused by poverty in Haiti; and a view of pollution and needs of the future in Kenya focusing on wildlife conservation policies. It is suggested that only economic growth can generate the real resources necessary to alleviate conditions in the developing countries urban centers. This together with competing social needs more pressing than pollution control contributes to a generally permissive set of environmental attitudes in developing countries. Nevertheless there is significant variance among developing countries in environmental policy partly because of different levels of development and partly because of differences in environmental preferences and these attitudes have sometimes reflected rapid change.

Plenty and Want: A Social History of Diet in England from 1815 to the Present Day

Abstract: Preface to the Third Edition Part One, 1815-50 1 England in Transition 2 The Agricultural Labourer 3 The Town Worker 4 The Food of the Rich 5 Food Adulteration Part Two, 1850-1914 6 Feeding the Nation 7 Rural England: Romance and Reality 8 Urban England: Poverty and Progress 9 High Living 10 The Quality of Food Part Three, 1914 to the Present Day 11 The First World War 12 Between the Wars 13 The Second World War 14 Want and Plenty, 1945-85 Select Bibliography Index

Poverty, Income Inequality, and Their Measures: Professor Sen's Axiomatic Approach Reconsidered

Abstract: This paper proposes the Gini coefficient of the censored income distribution truncated from above by the poverty line as an index of poverty. An ordinalist axiomatic approach, which was introduced by Professor Sen, is used to justify this measure. In comparison with Sen's index, our alternative measure is simpler and more concerned with relative deprivation; it can be regarded as a more natural translation of the Gini coefficient from the measurement of inequality into that of poverty.

The Nature of Mass Poverty

Abstract: This is an analysis of why the poor countries of the world stay that way and what they can do to improve their situation.

Poverty and infant mortality in the United States.

Abstract: This paper examines the theoretical and empirical relationship of income poverty to infant mortality differentials in the comtemporary United States. Using national data gathered in 1964-65, this study estimates the relative impact of a variety of biological, social, and economic factors upon the risk of infant death. Methods for the analysis of multidimensional contingency tables permit the combination of birth and death data, and coefficient estimates from these models provide estimates of the relative risks of infant death observed in various subpopulations. Within the white population of legitimate births in 1964-65, coefficient estimates indicate that poverty is associated with relative risks of neonatal and postneonatal mortality 1.5 times greater than that experienced by infants not born in poverty, independent of a variety of maternal and familial characteristics and the birth weight of the infant. Hospital care during the neonatal period, however, appears to attenuate this increased risk for some high risk infants. The estimated direct effects of poverty upon infant mortality are larger than the effects of poverty mediated by the birth weight of the infant. The persistence of poverty and the continuing unequal distribution of health care resources to pregnant women and young mothers in the United States imply the reproduction of these differentials to the present day. Increasing access to health services and increased help to families through income supports and employment programs are indicated as possible policy actions to reduce these differentials.

The impact of income maintenance payments on poverty in Britain, 1975

Abstract: Book description: This authoritative collection brings together 100 key articles on the subject of the welfare state selected by one of the world’s leading experts. The first volume discusses the economic theory and related matters which underpin analysis of the welfare state. Volume II is about income transfers, especially social security benefits and poverty relief. Volume III looks at benefits in kind, particularly health care and education. This important work provides an analytical background to the subject whilst illustrating the vast array of literature available. It will be invaluable to students and professionals alike.

The Impact of Divorce: Father Absence or Poverty?.

Abstract: This study sought to determine if the often described differences in the child-rearingpractices of divorced and married mothers are related to the father's absence, or if they are largely related to the low income which so often occurs with divorce. Seventy-two mothers varying along the dimensions of father absence, income, number of children, and sex of the target child were interviewed. The resultssuggest that income is a key factor; child-rearing practices were more restrictive and demanding at the lower but not at the higher income levels. Additional effects were found when child-rearing practices were analyzed by sex of child and number of children.

The Poverty of Theory and Other Essays

Abstract: Thompson's new book is a collection of four essays, three of which appeared earlier (1973,1965, and 1960). Although the latter three are interesting, I will comment only on “The Poverty of Theory or an Orrery of Errors” (1978), Thompson's long critique of Althusser. One response to Althusser has been eclecticism: although his French Communist Party politics are not worth anything, his philosophical ideas can be detached from his politics and fit into something one could call “up-to-date Marxism,” or perhaps better, Super Marxism. This tolerance of Althusser is certainly a sign of the times because in the 1960s no one would have dared to put forward Roger Garaudy as a philosopher whose great ideas could be detached from his politics.

Emigrant Gentlewomen: Genteel Poverty And Female Emigration, 1830 1914

Abstract: First published in 1979. This book examines the distressed gentlewoman stereotype, primarily through a study of the experience of emigration among single middle-class women between 1830 and 1914. Based largely on a study of government and philanthropic emigration projects, it argues that the image of the downtrodden resident governess does inadequate justice to Victorian middle-class women’s responses to the experience of economic and social decline and to insufficient female employment opportunities. This title will be of interest to students of history.

Seasonal dimensions to rural porverty: analysis and practical implications.

Abstract: This paper reports on a conference on seasonal dimensions to rural poverty. Presentations included specialised papers on climate, energy balance, vital events, individual tropical diseases, nutrition, rural economy, and women, and also multi-disciplinary case studies of tropical rural areas from the Gambia, Nigeria, Mali, Kenya, Tanzania, India and Bangladesh. While care is needed in generalising, the evidence suggested that for agriculturalists in the tropics, the worst times of year are the wet seasons, typically marked by a concurrence of food shortages, high demands for agricultural work, high exposure to infection especially diarrhoeas, malaria, and skin diseases, loss of body weight, low birth weights, high neonatal mortality, poor child care, malnutrition, sickness and indebtedness. In this season, poor and weak people, especially women, are vulnerable to deprivation and to becoming poorer and weaker. Seasonal analysis is easily left out in rural planning. When applied, it suggests priorities in research, and indicates practical policy measures for health, for the family, for agriculture, and for government planning and administration.

Redistribution before Growth — A Strategy for Developing Countries

Abstract: The liberal assumption on which policies of, and towards, developing countries were based was that economic growth and social modernization would take care of poverty. That, with perhaps a slight delay, the benefits of economic growth would trickle down to the poorest segments of society. This growth optimism seems to have been invalidated by the recent Third World experience. Average income per head in the Third World has grown more rapidly in the last two decades than ever before. But so have unemployment, families, malnutrition, abject poverty, and hunger. The income gap between the richest members of developing societies and the poorest has in most developing countries risen. Not infrequently, the absolute real income of the poorest has actually dropped in these decades of accelerated growth. The implications are clear — they require major rethinking of development theory and policy.

Poverty and Prostitution: a Study of Victorian Prostitutes in York

Abstract: List of illustrations Preface Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Houses and haunts 3. The prostitutes and brothel-keepers 4. The clients 5. Drink, destitution and disease 6. Rescue and reform Conclusion Notes bibliography Index.

Human Rights and Economic Realities: Tradeoffs in Historical Perspective

Abstract: The contemporary debate on the issue of human rights in the Third World has generated more heat than light because it has failed to recognize the massive economic costs of more humane policies. There is no natural affinity among economic growth, political freedom, and social justice in development processes., Nothing shows this more clearly than the, recent economic performance of the Third World. The high growth rates typical of the last three decades in many developing nations2 have done little to relieve the miserable poverty that is the lot of the vast majority of citizens in these countries, and have gone hand in hand with authoritarian and repressive political regimes.3

Poverty and Culture in Education: Separate but Equal:

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to separate and clarify the impact of poverty and cultural background on the educational attainment of children. The effects of poverty and culture on educability are examined separately. It is concluded that each factor uniquely influences mediating variables which determine educability and, ultimately, educational attainment. Clear separation of the effects of poverty and culture is required in order to plan and interpret research and evaluate interventions.

Political Aspects of Poverty, Income Distribution and their Measurement: Some Examples from Rural Java

Abstract: … with a rule and a pair of scales, and the multiplication table always in his pocket, Sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic. Mr Gradgrind in Dickens's Hard Times. Research has indicated that in rural areas, the income of the poor has increased faster than that of the rich … in 1967, 9 out of 10 Indonesians lived below the poverty line; in 1970, 8 out of 10, and in 1976 only 3 out of 10. This means the benefits of development are being distributed … How do we react to these figures? One may still suggest various reservations concerning the indicators of increasing equality. For example, it should be made clear to the layman to what extent the poverty line standard based on the World Bank research is sufficiently valid and objective to be used as a measure and a guide for Indonesian society. We also need further clarification of the more rapid income increases among the poor compared to the rich in rural society. For according to other research, they say that the gap between land-owners and labourers is also increasing. Kompas editorial, 18 August, 1977, Jakarta (translated).

A Social History of the English Working Classes, 1815-1945

Abstract: Part 1 The birth of the new society, 1815-1850: life at work life at home working-class protest and self-help government intervention - factory, mine and town government intervention - schools and churches the problem of poverty. Part 2 Equipoise and after 1850-1900: further reform of working and living conditions schools, churches and chapels after 1850 changing attitudes to poverty the growth of modern unionism. Part 3 New roles for labour 1900-1914: the Labour Party and the unions before World War I the liberal welfare reforms class, family and the quality of life. Part 4 Labour in peace and war 1914-1945: World War I between the wars World War II.