Showing papers on "Poverty published in 1992"

Empowerment: The Politics of Alternative Development

Abstract: 1 Alternative Development: Its Origins and Moral Justification 2 Trajectory: From Exclusion to Empowerment 3 Rethinking the Economy: The Whole--Economy Model 4 Rethinking Poverty: The (Dis)Empowerment Model 5 Political Claims I: Inclusive Democracy and Appropriate Economic Growth 6 Political Claims II: Gender Equality and Intergenerational Equity 7 Practice: From Social to Political Power Epilogue: Some Questions for Rich Countries Bibliography Index

Poverty Comparisons: A Guide to Concepts and Methods

Abstract: Poverty assessments are typically clouded in conceptual and methodological uncertainties. How should living standards be assessed? Is a household survey necessary, and is it a reliable guide? Where should the poverty line be drawn, and does the choice matter? What poverty measure should be used in aggregating data on individual living standards? Does that choice matter? This paper surveys the issues that need to be considered in answering these questions, and discusses a number of new tools of analysis which can greatly facilitate poverty comparisons, recognizing the uncertainties involved. Various applications in poverty assessment and policy evaluation for developing countries are used to show how these methods can be put into practice. Recommendations are made for future applied work.

Equivalence scale relativities and the extent of inequality and poverty

Abstract: Most inequality and poverty theory analyzes "equivalent income" distributions for homogeneous populations: incomes are assumed to be deflated by an equivalence scale that accounts for differences in needs between households. Yet in practice there is no consensus about what the appropriate equivalence scale is. The authors analyze how the choice of equivalence scale affects inequality and poverty measures, and show that there is a systematic relationship between equivalence scale generosity and the extent of inequality and poverty. They consider most of the measures in common use and provide some empirical illustrations. Copyright 1992 by Royal Economic Society.

Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, And Women's Work

Abstract: Crises, poverty and gender inequality - current themes and issues, Shelley Feldman from survival strategies to transformation strategies - women's needs and structural adjustment, Diane Elson women and the economic crisis in the Caribbean, Helen I. Safa and Peggy Antrobus the Mexican debit crisis - restructuring the economy and the household, Lourdes Beneria crisis, Islam and gender in Bangladesh - the social construction of a female labour force, S. Feldman the politics of Bolivia's economic crisis - survival strategies of displaced tin-mining households, Wendy McFarren the impact of crisis and economic reform on women in urban Tanzania, Aili Mari Tripp gender relations and food security - coping with seasonality, drought and famine in South Asia, Bina Agarwal women's work and household strategies in times of economic crisis, Chiara Saraceno economic crisis and women in Nicaragua - adjustments and transformation, Paola Perez Aleman.

Rising Inequality? Changes in the Distribution of Income and Consumption in the 1980s

Abstract: This paper examines changes in the distribution of income and consumption in the United States during the 1980s. using data from the Current Population Survey (income) and Consumer Expenditure Survey (consumption). We reach three primary conclusions. First. changes in the distribution of consumption parallel changes in the distribution of income. The lowest quintile of the consumption distribution received 0.9 percentage points less of total consumption in 1988 than in 1980; the corresponding decline for income was 0.6 percentage points. Second. broad conclusions concerning recent changes in the consumption distribution are not very sensitive to the exact choice of a measure of family needs. Under a wide variety of alternative household equivalence scales. there is a widening in the consumption distribution in the 1980s. Third. the usc of consumption measures of well-being in place of measures based on current money income docs change conclusions concerning the extent of poverty in the United Stales. Using the official federal poverty thresholds. we find that the overall consumption poverty rate was three percentage points below the income poverty rate in 1988. Comparisons of the poverty rates of the elderly and the non-elderly are substantially affected by the choice of poverty measure. The consumption poverty rare for the elderly was only 60 percent of the rate for adults and one-third of the rate for children in 1988.

Income Distribution and Infant Mortality

Abstract: Comparing two countries in which the poor have equal real incomes the one in which the rich are wealthier is likely to have a higher infant mortality rate. This anomalous result does not appear to spring from measurement error in estimating the income of the poor and the association between high infant mortality and income inequality is still present after controlling for other factors such as education medical personnel and fertility. The positive association of infant mortality and the income of the rich suggests that measured real incomes may be a poor measure of social welfare....This paper considers and tests several possible explanations such as the provision of medical services the degree of urbanization the extent of female literacy and differences in the composition of births among different income groups. None of these factors adequately accounts for the positive association between the incomes of the rich and infant mortality. The geographical scope is worldwide. (EXCERPT)

Rising Inequality? Changes in the Distribution of Income and Consumption in the 1980s

Abstract: This paper examines changes in the distribution of income and consumption in the United States during the 1980s. using data from the Current Population Survey (income) and Consumer Expenditure Survey (consumption). We reach three primary conclusions. First. changes in the distribution of consumption parallel changes in the distribution of income. The lowest quintile of the consumption distribution received 0.9 percentage points less of total consumption in 1988 than in 1980; the corresponding decline for income was 0.6 percentage points. Second. broad conclusions concerning recent changes in the consumption distribution are not very sensitive to the exact choice of a measure of family needs. Under a wide variety of alternative household equivalence scales. there is a widening in the consumption distribution in the 1980s. Third. the usc of consumption measures of well-being in place of measures based on current money income docs change conclusions concerning the extent of poverty in the United Stales. Using the official federal poverty thresholds. we find that the overall consumption poverty rate was three percentage points below the income poverty rate in 1988. Comparisons of the poverty rates of the elderly and the non-elderly are substantially affected by the choice of poverty measure. The consumption poverty rare for the elderly was only 60 percent of the rate for adults and one-third of the rate for children in 1988.

The Association Between Men's Economic Status and Their Family and Community Origins

Abstract: This study uses intergenerational data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to investigate the relationship between men's economic status and the characteristics of the families and communities in which they grew up. It is distinguished from most previous studies by its emphasis on community influences and on influences from poverty and welfare use. Also, our parental characteristics data are more comprehensive and accurate than those of many earlier studies. We find substantial disadvantages in economic status for black men, men from lower-income families, and men from more welfare-dependent families or communities. Otherwise, we do not find strong evidence of community influences. This, however, might be due to the grossness of the geographic detail at which our community variables are measured.

The state of world rural poverty: an inquiry into its causes and consequences

Abstract: Poverty is spreading. There are now as many people living in absolute poverty - almost a billion in the rural Third World alone - as lived on the entire planet only a century ago. Yet poverty continues to be shrouded in mystery. Consider that: Four-fifths of the world's poor live in rural areas; About 340 million people worldwide are currently chronically ill from malnutrition; Over 500 million do not get enough calories to do a full day's labor; At a time when enough grain is being produced to provide everyone in the world with twice the daily minimum caloric requirements, global hunger is at an all-time high; Half again as many rural women - almost 600 million - live in absolute poverty today as did 20 years. In an effort to call special attention to this urgent problem, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency that has approved more than 300 development programs in almost 100 countries and is considered the world's foremost authority on issues of rural poverty, and New York University Press are proud to be present The State of World Rural Poverty. In the tradition of the World Development Report and World Resources, The State of World Rural Poverty, offers the first comprehensive look at the economic conditions and prospects of the world's rural poor. Certain to become the definitive source of data and analysis as well as an invaluable policy guide to issues involving development and poverty in underdeveloped nations, this volume incorporates research from all over the world.

The development and history of the poverty thresholds.

Abstract: In recent years there has been renewed interest in the United States in the definition and measurement of poverty. In early 1992, the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences began a 30-month study requested by Congress that includes an examination of statistical issues involved in measuring and understanding poverty. Some 2 years earlier, in January 1990, the Administration had approved an initiative on improving the quality of economic statistics. The current poverty measure was one of several dozen statistical series examined as part of that initiative. In April 1990, Urban Institute economist Patricia Ruggles published a book that urged the revision of the poverty line to reflect changes in consumption patterns and changing concepts of what constitutes a minimally adequate standard of living. In July 1990, two private organizations concerned with the poor and the elderly issued a report reviewing current poverty measurement procedures and describing a Gallup poll in which a nationally representative sample of Americans set an average dollar figure for the poverty line that was higher than the current official poverty line. In view of these and other examples, it may be useful to reexamine the development and subsequent history of the current official poverty thresholds.

The New Politics Of Poverty: The Nonworking Poor In America

Abstract: * Introduction * The Crisis of Reform * The Costs of Nonwork * Low Wages and Hard Times * Are Jobs Available? * Barriers to Employment * Human Nature * Policy * Welfare Reform * The Wider Meaning of Dependency * The Prospect

Soil and fertilizer phosphorus and crop responses in the dryland Mediterranean zone

Abstract: As we approach the end of the century, the disparity between the rich and poor nations of the world is startling. While poverty knows no climatic or geographical boundary, a disproportionate number of the less well-off are concentrated in dryland or rainfed areas of the world. There, poverty has many bedfellows; low literacy levels, underemployment, small land holdings, limited and poor quality resources, and, consequently, low agricultural output. Because of over-stocking and poor grazing management, soil degradation is an inevitable consequence and one that undermines a country’s agricultural production capacity. This phenomenon is apparent in virtually all dryland areas of the world (Majeed, 1986). While soil degradation is evident in such places as diverse as Brazil and China, most countries of Africa are affected. Though the sub-Saharan Sahel has attracted attention because of disastrous famine in the past two decades, the North Africa region is just as much threatened. Indeed, the problem is common in West Asian countries as well. It is ironic that water, a scarce resource, which dictates the course of man’s fortunes in dryland areas, can also cause a depletion of the soil resource, if not managed properly.

Measuring Poverty and Differences in Family Composition

Abstract: The equivalence scales used to adjust for differences in family composition when measuring poverty exhibit considerable variation This paper suggests an alternative approach that allows for differences in social judgements regarding the treatment of different types of family and examines the relation with the choice of poverty measure The resulting dominance criteria cannot provide a complete ranking but allow the extent of disagreement to be identified Their application is illustrated by the example of changes in child benefits Copyright 1992 by The London School of Economics and Political Science

Rural Livelihoods: Crises and Responses

Abstract: This book is concerned with the question of how people in developing countries survive, and how their lives have been affected by the great changes since the Second World War. Throughout large parts of the developing world rural livelihoods are in crisis. Even in those parts of the third world where there has been growth of food output, that growth has rarely been translated into a commensurate expansion of livelihoods. Frequently, both economic stagnation and economic growth are translated into suffering for those who live in the countryside. Many people are aware that there is a crisis of livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa, but the understanding of that crisis rarely transcends simple conceptions of food or environmental crisis or the inadequacy of states: the ubiquity of crisis is rarely comprehended. This book addresses the pressing question of rural poverty. It examines the diverse human implications of rural change, the various crises of rural livelihoods which arise from change, and the survival strategies of individuals and households. It describes the great processes of agrarian transformation which have fundamentally altered rural livelihoods in developing countries and identifies some of the dilemmas for public action which arise from agrarian transformation and the crises of rural livelihoods. The contributors draw upon a range of disciplinary approaches to the subject, including anthropology, sociology, economics, political economy, agricultural science, and development studies.

Rural poverty, urban poverty, and psychological well-being

Abstract: Data from the National Survey of Families and Households are used to compare the psychological well-being of the rural and urban poor. Overall, the urban poor are higher in perceived health than the rural poor, although no differences are apparent in happiness or depression. Significant interactions are present between rural/urban poverty and sex, race, and family status. The psychological well-being of poor African Americans is higher in rural than urban areas, whereas the well-being of poor whites is higher in urban than rural areas. This trend is especially pronounced for depression among males. In addition, single men without children have especially high depression scores in rural areas, whereas married women without children have especially low depression scores in urban areas. The results are interpreted in terms of the environmental quality of inner-city neighborhoods and attitudes toward poverty in urban and rural communities.

International Perspectives on the Residential Mobility of America's Children.

Abstract: The author examines residential mobility trends among U.S. children and compares them with trends in other developed countries. "The paper develops alternative explanations of the excess mobility of U.S. children and concludes that the most likely explanation is greater family disruption and childhood poverty in the United States. The paper identifies what is an average number of moves for children at successive ages and models the association of selected socioeconomic and other variables with different measures of mobility." (EXCERPT)

Inflation and Poverty

Abstract: This paper discusses the regressive nature of the inflation tax and she limited extent of its impact on those individuals below the poverty line. It also argues that inflation affects poverty mainly through its impact on real wages: the empirical evidence shows that wages increase more slowly than prices during episodes of rising inflation in Latin America. Finally the paper discusses whether some stabilization programs are less costly in terms of increased poverty than others. Both orthodox programs and attempts to reduce inflation by the implementation of incomes policy have not helped the poor in Latin America.

The perceived impact of child care costs on women's labor supply and fertility.

Abstract: In a sample of Detroit-area mothers of preschool-aged children interviewed in 1986, one-third reported that child care problems had constrained their employment. Such reports were relatively prevalent among poor women. those without relatives nearby, and those willing to entrust the care of their children to nonfamily members. Only one-tenth of the sample reported a similar child care constraint on fertility, a phenomenon unrelated to income but relatively prevalent among women with strong labor force attachment. The results suggest that policies to increase the supply of child care or to lower its cost could increase female labor supply by a substantial fraction, with an even greater rise among women most at risk of poverty and reliance on public assistance, but probably would not raise fertility significantly.

Rural Poverty in America

Abstract: Foreword by Susan E. Sechler Introduction: Poverty in Rural America by Cynthia M. Duncan and Stephen Sweet The Dynamics of Poverty and Mobility in Rural America Overview of the Rural Poor in the 1980s by Kenneth L. Deavers and Robert A. Hoppe The Growing Problem of Low Earnings in Rural Areas by Lucy Gorham The Working Poor in Rural Labor Markets: The Example of the Southeastern United States by Ann R. Tickmayer Long-Term Poverty in Rural Areas by Terry K. Adams and Greg J. Duncan Poor People and Poor Places Race, Gender, and Poverty in the Rural South: African American Single Mothers by Bonnie Thornton Dill and Bruce B. Williams Persistent Poverty in Appalachia: Scarce Work and Rigid Stratification by Cynthia M. Duncan Migrant Farm Workers by Doris P. Slesinger and Max J. Pfeffer American Indians and Economic Poverty by C. Matthew Snipp and Gene F. Summers Rural Poverty in the Northeast: The Case of Upstate New York by Janet M. Fitchen The New Poor in Midwestern Farming Communities by Cornelia Butler Flora Policies for the Rural Poor Modernization and the Rural Poor: Some Lessons from History by Alice O'Connor Empowerment and Rural Poverty by Steve Suitts Policies to Alleviate Rural Poverty by Robert Greenstein and Isaac Shapiro References Index

A genealogy of the government of poverty

Abstract: This paper contributes to a genealogy of the discourses and government of poverty. It offers a statement of what might be understood bya genealogical perspective and method, and then focuses on the emergence of a ‘liberal mode of government’ of poverty in the early nineteenth century, of which the reformed poor law in England is emblematic but not exhaustive. The emergence of this mode of government is followed through a series of related transformations of the older systems of the relief and administration of ‘the Poor’, best understood as a dimension of ‘police’ in its archaic sense. The conditions of the problematization of this older system of government in matters of population, economy, police, and so on. This emergence has implications for the formation of a national labour market, notions of self-governance and responsibility, forms of patriarchy and household, and issues of morality, philanthropy, admkinistration, and the state. Above all, it is within this liberal mode of government that we can ...

A Poverty Profile for Ghana, 1987–1988

Abstract: The object of this paper is to establish a baseline poverty profile for Ghana using the Ghana Living Standards Survey. The profile does speak, in general terms, to current policy concerns in Ghana. It provides support for an improvement in the rural-urban terms of trade, in favor of the former. Poverty in Ghana is overwhelmingly a rural phenomenon. Thus, a policy of raising the producer prices of key agricultural commodities is unlikely to be in conflict with the objective of poverty alleviation. However, the profiles developed in this paper allow a more detailed differentiation to be made between different crops. On the expenditure side, the poverty profiles can also speak to policy debates. They provide an empirical framework for assessing the poverty impact of various policy options on, for example, gasoline pricing. However, they do not provide the whole answer. To do that would require a full analysis that poverty profiles by their very nature cannot capture. Finally, the profiles highlight achievements on the basic needs front. Although not providing an analysis of policy options, these profiles do provide a base-line and an input into more detailed sectoral or sub-sectoral analysis of interventions.

Leisure, Gender, and Poverty: Working-Class Culture in Salford and Manchester, 1900-1939

Abstract: Part 1 Poverty: poverty before World War I poverty and unemployment between the Wars poverty and "human" needs. Part 2 Men - poverty, unemployment and the family: poverty and the denial of leisure leisure as a "cause" of poverty. Part 3 Women - housekeeping, leisure and independence: time and money drink and respectability cinemas fortune tellers and spiritualists. Part 4 Young workers - parents, polics and freedom: family economy and family relationships dance halls cinemas corner gangs monkey parades. Part 5 Streets, markets and parks: street life and neighbourhood relationships street entertainers and working-class charity street customs Saturday night markets parks. Part 6 Gambling: back entry bookmakers and the police bookmakers and neighbourhood life gambling schools and working-class sports gambling and working-class culture. Appendices: occupational structure respondents' biographies.

Population and development.

Abstract: A unified approach to development is recommended: one in which the social economic and political components are accounted for within a multidimensional process of reorganization and reorientation of structures and attitudes customs and beliefs. During the 1970s development was construed as improvement in employment within a growing economy and elimination of poverty and inequality--a redistribution of growth. Development should increase and widen the distribution of basic life sustaining goods increase levels of living and expand economic and social choices and free people from dependence on other people and servitude to ignorance and poverty. Six basic issues linking population growth and development were identified; the interrelationships between economic social and demographic variables were explained. The aims of educational development and educational progress as affected by urbanization were discussed. It is inappropriate to isolate economic social and demographic concerns as separate entities and as separate from the development process. The population problem of rapid population growth is intertwined with the problem of unmet human needs; problematic are illiteracy extreme deprivation insufficient income to purchase essential health services and basic nutrition and inadequate diets. Improvements have not kept pace with needs. The theories of Malthus are no longer germane and demographic transition theory is not as effective in achieving or explaining the reduction of birth rates. An approach which attacks poverty and low quality of life would be directed to core motivations. The hidden momentum of population growth and the impact of literacy and age and sex composition are discussed as features of improvement in quality of life and of fertility reduction. Economic and social development are dependent on human resources not on capital or material resources. The institutional mechanism for developing human potential is the educational system. Even though enrollments have increased over the past 30 years employment opportunities and standard of living have not changed markedly. India was given as an example of the dynamics of facilities management. Education also impacts on fertility and is affected by the distribution of the population.