Showing papers on "Poverty published in 1983"

Rural development : putting the last first

Abstract: Rural poverty is often unseen or misperceived by outsiders. Dr Chambers contends that researchers, scientists, administrators and fieldworkers rarely appreciate the richness and validity of rural people's knowledge or the hidden nature of rural poverty. This is a challenging book for all concerned with rural development, as practitioners, academics, students or researchers.

Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation

Abstract: This book focuses on the causes of starvation in general and famines in particular. The traditional analysis of famines is shown to be fundamentally defective, and the author develops an alternative analysis.

Slipping into and Out of Poverty: the Dynamics of Spells

Abstract: This paper examines the dynamics of poverty. Previous analyses of the dynamics of poverty have either examined only fluctuations in the male heads earnings or looked at the frequency of poverty periods over a fixed time frame. We argue that a more appropriate way to understand the dynamics of poverty is to define spells of poverty. Using this methodology we find that the majority of poor persons at any point in time are in fact in the midst of a rather long spell of poverty. The methodology also allows us to estimate the extent to which poverty spell beginnings and endings are associated with changes in income or changes in family structure. Less than 40 percent of poverty spell beginnings seem to be caused by a drop in the heads earnings,while 60 percent of endings occur when the head's earnings increase. As a result we argue that to understand the causes and potential remedies for poverty, researchers must focus on household formation decisions and on the behavior of so called secondary family members.

A Home Divided: Women and Income in the Third World

Abstract: Introduction Judith Bruce and Daisy Dwyer 1. The material consequences of reproductive failure in rural South Asia Mead Cain 2. Intergenerational contracts: familial roots of sexual stratification in Taiwan Susan Greenhalgh 3. Women are good with money: earning and managing in an Indonesian city Hanna Papanek and Laurel Schwede 4. Women's work and poverty: women's contribution to household maintenance in South India Joan P. Mencher 5. Household budgeting and financial management in a lower-income Cairo neighborhood Homa Hoodfar 6. The nonpooling household: a challenge to theory Eleanor R. Fapohunda 7. Dynamic approaches to domestic budgeting: cases and methods from Africa Jane Guyer 8. Income allocation and marriage options in Urban Zambia Monica Munachonga 9. The constraints on and release of female labor power: Dominican migration to the United States Patricia R. Pessar 10. The impact of Agrarian reform on men's and women's incomes in rural Honduras Constantina Safilios-Rothschild 11. Renegotiating the marital contract: intrahousehold patterns of money allocation and women's subordination among domestic out workers in Mexico city Martha Roldan 12. The black four of hearts: toward a new paradigm of household economics Nancy Folbre.

The Poverty of "Development Economics"

Abstract: This is a classic IEA text, first Published in 1983, but revised and expanded in 1997. Its critique of that type of 'development economics' highly influential in the early 1980s, which the author branded the 'dirigiste dogma', proved extremely controversial in the first few years of the book's life. Professor Lal concluded that the demise of the dogma would be beneficial to the health of 'both economics and the economies of developing countries'. The history of the last twenty years has demonstrated the force of the Lal critique. The dogma in its old form has gone, as Professor Lal shows in a postscript that brings the original text up to date both in terms of statistics and in terms of the history of ideas. Nevertheless, as he warns, dirigiste tendencies have not disappeared, but are emerging in new guises.

The Measurement of Poverty: Implications for Antipoverty Policy

Abstract: The Census Bureau released a report in April 1982 showing that if in-kind income from government programs--food stamps, subsidized school lunches, Public Housing, Medicare and Medicaid--is valued and added to money incomes, then poverty in 1979 was substantially less than the 11.1 percent of persons the Census had previously reported. This paper assesses the implications of that report for the measurement of poverty and for transfer policy. Then some evidence on the present level and recent trend in poverty is presented. This is followed by a discussion of how current antipoverty policy differs from that of the past fifteen years. Finally, some projections of poverty into the mid-1980s are offered. The Measurement of Poverty: Implications for Antipoverty Policy INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The Bureau of the Census (1982) has released a report showing that if in-kind income from government programs--food stamps, subsidized school lunches, public housing, Medicare and Medicaid--is valued and added to money incomes, then poverty in 1979 was substantially less than the 11.1 percent of persons the Census had previously reported. 1 The resulting estimates of the percentage of persons who are poor range from 6.4 to 9.8 percent, depending on which of the transfer benefits are included and how they are valued. 2 Many analysts concerned about the well-being of the poor have criticized the report, viewing it as an attempt to demonstrate that poverty is no longer a serious problem. Such skepticism is unwarranted for several reasons. First, it has long been recognized that programs like food stamps and subsidized housing increase the purchasing power of the poor even if they do not alter their cash incomes, and hence, the Census Bureau's official poverty statistics. Similar estimates for earlier years have been widely cited in the academic literature (Smeeding, 1975; Hoagland, 1982).3 Thus, the Census Bureau has merely responded to academic and Congressional criticism of the official statistics. Second, rationales for reducing social welfare expenditures are seriously challenged by the findings. The report's lowest estimate of poverty is derived by valuing all of the in-kind transfers listed above at their market cost and adding them to reported cash incomes. That 13.6 million people, 6.4 percent of the population, remain poor refutes the

Parents and children: incomes in two generations.

Abstract: This book reports the results of a study of intergenerational income mobility in Great Britain, based on a follow-up survey of the families interviewed in Rowntree's study of poverty in York in 1950. The study examines the continuity of economic status across generations, especially with regard to poverty, and also looks at mechanisms such as education that lead to the transmittal of economic advantage across generations. Problems of research design included the difficulties of tracing the children of the original families after more than 25 years and the fact that neither of the samples was nationally representative. The study measures economic status by income or earnings. Direct and indirect factors examined include mobility between income groups of parents and children, the extent to which advantage or disadvantage were associated, life cycle influences, family background, education, and access to better paying jobs or the labor market. The authors study the continuity of jobs across generations especially with regard to industrial patterns of employment. The effects of age, education, and location on unusually high or low incomes are also examined. Few people question that high or low incomes are associated across generations, but the extent to which they are associated is rarely studied, and this book attempts to fill that gap.

The effects of corruption on administrative performance : illustrations from development countries

Abstract: This study is one in a series of papers devoted to issues of development management in the search for greater efficiency in setting and pursuing developing goals. The widespread occurrence of corruption in developing countries, whereby public money is illicitly diverted for private gain, has raised substantial concern. The particular circumstances of developing countries as well as government monopoly of economic activities, conditions of political softness, widespread poverty and socioeconomic inequalities, ambivalence toward the legitimacy of governmental organizations, and systematic maladministration appear to be conducive to corruption. The data shows that corruption has a deleterious effect on administrative performance and economic and political development. The paper suggests counteraction measures ranging from commissions of inquiry, ombudsmen to investigate citizen complaints, courses and seminars, to simplification of administrative and financial procedures.

Poverty, undernutrition, and hunger

Abstract: This report, which is one of four related papers, on characteristics of poor and ultra-poor people, identifies: (i) food-related indicators of how many people are ultra-poor and moderately poor; and (ii) these people's nutritional characteristics. The distinction between ultra-poverty and poverty permits them to be measured any of three ways - by nutritional correlates, by income or outlay levels, or by food/outlay ratios - according to the data situation. Those at nutritional risk are fewer and poorer than is generally believed. By concentrating on these ultra-poor, programs to raise caloric intake can end such risk at reasonable cost and speed. Diffusing such programs to the moderately poor diverts resources from their prime needs (schools, land, etc.) and from nutrition of the ultra-poor. More generally, most poverty projects bypass the ultra-poor population until their calorie status suffices for them to participate.

Is Income Overrated in Determining Adequate Nutrition

Abstract: There is now a wide measure of agreement on several broad propositions. Serious and extensive nutritional deficiencies occur in virtually all developing countries, though they are worst in low-income countries. They are usually caused by undernourishment-a shortage of food-not by an imbalance between calories and protein. ... Malnutrition affects old and young, male and female, urban and rural dwellers.... Malnutrition is largely a reflection of poverty: people do not have enough income for food. Given the slow income growth that is likely for the poorest people in the foreseeable future, large numbers will remain malnourished for decades to come. The most efficient long-term policies are those that raise the incomes of the poor, and those that raise food production per person. Other relevant policies include food subsidies, nutrition education, adding minerals or vitamins to salt and other processed foods, and increasing emphasis on producing foods typically consumed by the poor.'

Regional Differences in the Economic Correlates of the Urban Homicide Rate

Abstract: This article examines regional differences in the economic correlates of the urban homicide rate. On the basis of cultural variations between the South and other parts of the country, the proportion of the population below the poverty line and the level of income inequality are hypothesized to have stronger positive effects on the homicide rate in nonsouthern than in southern cities. Regression results for a sample of 256 nonsouthern cities and a sample of 91 southern cities do not support the hypothesis for the measure of income inequality, however. The Gini coefficient of family income concentration has no significant effect in either region. In contrast, the results for the poverty measure are consistent with expectations. The proportion below the poverty line has a significant, positive effect on the homicide rate only in the nonsouthern sample. These findings suggest that the impact of economic deprivation on rates of violent crime is likely to vary appreciably depending on the general cultural context.

The relationship between unemployment, morbidity and mortality in Britain

Abstract: The object of the paper is to provide a satisfactory intellectual context to discuss the effects of unemployment both on morbidity and on mortality. The paper consists of three main sections and an introduction and conclusion. In the first section the methodological problems involved in establishing a causal relationship between unemployment and ill-health are discussed given the incidence of poverty, ill-health and unemployment and their interrelationships. In the second section evidence from social surveys including both surveys from the 1930s and the 1978 DHSS Cohort Study of the Unemployed is presented. The last section is concerned with evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal regression models. It is argued that by far the most promising avenue for establishing the existence and extent of any causal relationship between unemployment an either morbidity or mortality is through the analysis of longitudinal survey in which members who do not experience unemployment are included.

Banking On The Poor: The World Bank and World Poverty

Abstract: Banking on the Poor traces the evolution of Robert McNamara's poverty-oriented redirections at the World Bank from 1968 to 1981.

The social dimensions of development: social policy and planning in the Third World.

Abstract: This textbook provides basic information on social policies aimes at improving the welfare of the populations in developing countried and assessing the effectiveness of the major social policies which have been applied to the problems of poverty in these countried. The book is an outgrowth of experience gained in teaching a course in social policy and planning at London School of Economics. The focus is on social policied rather than on social planning techniques and the central theme is that state intervention and the implementation of social policies are a necessary prerequisite for improving the welfare of the inhabitants of 3rd World countried. The chapter defines underdevelopment. It stresses the need for governments to develop social policies in accordance with their needs and resources and to develop policies which will redistribute resources to the most seriously disadvantaged segments of their population. The 2nd chapter defines poverty describes the basic inequalities in living standards and income which exist in 3rd World countries and discuss the major theories which have been put forward to explain poverty. The next 5 chapters discuss the problems of population growth rural and urban development health and housing. The various policied which have been formulated to deal with each of these problems are described and compared in regard to their effectiveness. The next chapter discusses social work and the problems associated with the development of social welfare services in developing countries. The final chapter deals with international issues and assesses. The value of bilateral and multilateral aid. Major assumptions underlying the presentation of the material are 1)poverty impedes development 2)poverty will not disappear without government intervention 3)economic development by itself cannot reduce poverty 4)poverty is the result of social factors rather than the result of inadequacies on the part of poor indiciduals 5)socialpolicies and programs formulated to deal with problems in the developed countries are inappropriate for application in developing countries; 6)social policies must reflect the needs of each country; and 7)social planning should be an interdisciplinary endeavor and should utilize knowledge derived from all the social sciences.

New development approaches and the adaptability of international agencies: the case of the World Bank

Abstract: Certain “realist” views of the international economic regime construe international financial agencies as straightforward reflections of the power and interests of nation states. However, the World Bank's responsiveness to a wide range of demands for new development priorities and approaches also depends on the compliance of its huge staff. The staff's discretion in shaping, implementing, discrediting, or resisting these approaches requires an organizational-theoretic analysis of the sources of acceptance of or resistance to particular initiatives. Role-set theory accounts for many of the motivational sources of resistance. The capabilities to resist new initiatives through “bureaucratic politics” can be understood through March and Simon's emphasis on the importance of absorbing uncertainty. On the basis of these theories and findings on attitudes expressed by Bank staff, strategies can be developed to enhance the Bank's responsiveness to such initiatives as greater emphasis on the alleviation of poverty. Theory and findings also provide a basis for speculating on the characteristics required of an international agency to warrant treating it as an autonomous variable in the international system.

Time-series evidence of the effect of the minimum wage on youth employment and unemployment*

Abstract: Our updated estimates indicate that a 10 percent increase in the federal minimum wage (or the coverage rate) would reduce teenage (16-19) employment by about 1 percent, which is at the lower end of the range of estimates from previous studies. Because of substantial labor force withdrawal, the unemployment effects are practically zero. These minimum wage effects differ very little by sex, and there is no strong evidence that the effects vary by race. The study also finds a significant-albeit small-unemployment impact for young adults (20-24) and examines the consequences of numerous alternative statistical and mathematical specifications of the estimating model.

Poverty, Inequality, and Development

Abstract: Economists have traditionally concentrated on aggregate economic growth to measure a country's development, but previously they have also considered income distribution performance. In this book Gary Fields reverses conventional approaches by using income distribution as the primary indicator. He examines what is known about the distribution of income and poverty, inequality, and development. He explores the main causes of poverty and inequality and the extent to which they have been reduced by individual countries in the course of their economic growth. Recognizing that conclusions vary with the type of income distribution measure used, Fields proposes that changes in absolute poverty be adopted as the primary index of a developing nation's progress and suggests that the growth rate of the GNP and character of that growth be regarded as the principal determinants of the levels of poverty and inequality. This framework calls for new models new data. and new microanalytic techniques in order to understand the results of development efforts. Fields employs evidence from case studies of six developing nations to suggest some explanations for differing patterns of development and calls for development planning founded on a firm commitment to helping the poor.

The "Trickle-down" Myth

Abstract: Around 1970, disappointment was increasingly widely expressed that, after two decades of unprecedentedly high rates of economic growth in most of the Third World, hundreds of millions remained in abject poverty and in many countries income distribution appeared to have worsened. A consensus emerged that it was not enough for development policy to pursue a high rate of growth of overall or per capita income. Policy needed to aim more directly at social objectives-employment, improved distribution, reduction of poverty. In the course of this very desirable shift of emphasis, the notion got about that the first post-1945 generation of development economists had combined their preoccupation with economic growth with a theory of "trickle-down." The notion caught on, and within a few years a textbook on economic development included in its handy glossary an entry on " 'Trickle Down' Theory of Development: the prevalent view of the 1950s and 1960s in which development was seen as purely an 'economic' phenomenon in which rapid gains from the overall growth of GNP and per capita income would automatically bring benefits (i.e. 'trickle down') to the masses in the form of jobs and other economic opportunities. "' It is my object in this paper to suggest that no reputable development economist ever, explicitly or implicitly, entertained any such theory in any of its various alleged versions. "Trickle-down" is a myth which should be exposed and laid to rest.

Ethically Flexible Measures of Poverty

Abstract: This paper introduces new measures of both relative and absolute poverty using the notion of representative income of a community corresponding to the censored income distribution These new measures satisfy the monotonicity and transfer axioms proposed by Sen (1976) in all cases

Social and Economic Forces Affecting Intergenerational Relations in Extended Families in a Third World Country: a Cautionary Tale From South Asia

Abstract: Data from elderly Hindus living in Kathmandu Nepal are presented and demostrate that although these elderly people do continue to live in extended families social and economic changes have transformed the nature of intergenerational social relation within these families to the detriment of elderly family members The main source of the problem facing the elderly in Kathmandu is not change or modernization per se but rather the increasing poverty of Nepal Noting modernizations shift away from land ownership and rural residence to urban employment current generations in their elder years will be increasingly dependent on pensions and savings that in turn are directly dependent on stable employment decent wages and low inflation or cost-of-living increases Given poor Third World governments frustrated attempts at economic growth and the inability to mount substantial social service programs it is unlikely that more elderly will be able to live their latter years in a secure and dignified setting It is suggested that this phenomenon is not limited to Nepal but is found in other non-Western developing countries (authors modified)