Showing papers on "Poverty published in 2007"
TL;DR: Two factors with available worldwide data—the prevalence of early childhood stunting and the number of people living in absolute poverty—are identified as indicators of poor development and show that both indicators are closely associated with poor cognitive and educational performance in children.
2,942 citations
Book•
25 May 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, Collier pointed out the issues of corruption, political instability and resource management that lie at the root of the problem and proposed a new plan of action including a new agenda for the G8 which includes more effective anti-corruption measures, preferential trade policies and where necessary direct military intervention.
Abstract: Global poverty is falling rapidly, but in around fifty failing states, the world's poorest people face a tragedy that is growing inexorably worse This bottom billion live on less than a dollar a day and while the rest of the world moves steadily forward, this forgotten billion is left further and further behind with potentially serious consequences not only for them but for the stability of the rest of the world Why do the states these people live in defy all the attempts of the international aid community to help them? Why does nothing seem to make a difference? In The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier pinpoints the issues of corruption, political instability and resource management that lie at the root of the problem He describes the battle raging in these countries between corrupt leaders and would-be reformers and the factors such as civil war, dependence on the export of natural resources and lack of good governance that trap them into a downward spiral of economic and social decline Collier addresses the fact that conventional aid has been unable to tackle these problems and puts forward a radical new plan of action including a new agenda for the G8 which includes more effective anti-corruption measures, preferential trade policies and where necessary direct military intervention All of these initiatives are carefully designed to help the forgotten bottom billion, one of the key challenges facing the world in the twenty first century
2,029 citations
TL;DR: This paper found no significant overall effects of this intervention on adult economic self-sufficiency or physical health, and found that the relationship between neighborhood poverty rate and outcomes is approximately linear, using variation in treatment intensity across voucher types and cities.
Abstract: Families, primarily female-headed minority households with children, living in high-poverty public housing projects in five U.S. cities were offered housing vouchers by lottery in the Moving to Opportunity program. Four to seven years after random assignment, families offered vouchers lived in safer neighborhoods that had lower poverty rates than those of the control group not offered vouchers. We find no significant overall effects of this intervention on adult economic self-sufficiency or physical health. Mental health benefits of the voucher offers for adults and for female youth were substantial. Beneficial effects for female youth on education, risky behavior, and physical health were offset by adverse effects for male youth. For outcomes that exhibit significant treatment effects, we find, using variation in treatment intensity across voucher types and cities, that the relationship between neighborhood poverty rate and outcomes is approximately linear.
1,624 citations
TL;DR: In what turned out to be a rhetorical master-move, the 1990 World Development Report from the World Bank defined the extremely poor people of the world as those who are currently living on no more than $1 per day per person, measured at the 1985 purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rate as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In what turned out to be a rhetorical master-move, the 1990 World Development Report from the World Bank defined the “extremely poor” people of the world as those who are currently living on no more than $1 per day per person, measured at the 1985 purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rate. In 1993, the poverty line was updated to $1.08 per person per day at the 1993 PPP exchange rate, which is the line we use in this paper. Poverty lines have always existed—indeed $1 per day was chosen in part because of its proximity to the poverty lines used by many poor countries.1 However the $1-a-day poverty line has come to dominate the conversations about poverty to a remarkable extent.
1,201 citations
TL;DR: SES measures, strengths and limitations of specific approaches and methodological issues related to the analysis and interpretation of studies that examine SES and health disparities are described.
Abstract: Socioeconomic status (SES) is frequently implicated as a contributor to the disparate health observed among racial/ ethnic minorities, women and elderly populations. Findings from studies that examine the role of SES and health disparities, however, have provided inconsistent results. This is due in part to the: 1) lack of precision and reliability of measures; 2) difficulty with the collection of individual SES data; 3) the dynamic nature of SES over a lifetime; 4) the classification of women, children, retired and unemployed persons; 5) lack of or poor correlation between individual SES measures; and 6) and inaccurate or misleading interpretation of study results. Choosing the best variable or approach for measuring SES is dependent in part on its relevance to the population and outcomes under study. Many of the commonly used compositional and contextual SES measures are limited in terms of their usefulness for examining the effect of SES on outcomes in analyses of data that include population subgroups known to experience health disparities. This article describes SES measures, strengths and limitations of specific approaches and methodological issues related to the analysis and interpretation of studies that examine SES and health disparities.
939 citations
TL;DR: The third in the Child Development Series as discussed by the authors assesses strategies to promote child development and to prevent or ameliorate the loss of developmental potential in developing countries by identifying four well-documented risks: stunting, iodine deficiency, iron deficiency anaemia, and inadequate cognitive stimulation, plus four potential risks based on epidemiological evidence.
927 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of social business is introduced, where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today's most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet.
Abstract: In the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe. But traditional capitalism has been unable to solve problems like inequality and poverty. In Muhammad Yunus' groundbreaking sequel to Banker to the Poor, he outlines the concept of social business--business where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today's most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet. Creating a World Without Poverty reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already underway.
918 citations
TL;DR: The author claims that low-income, slow economic growth and high dependence on primary commodity exports are the key determinants of civil war, which is likely to continue longer if a country’s income is low.
Abstract: Disadvantaged populations, such as the poor, pose a complex set of challenges to the process of economic development. While a girl child born in Japan in 2005 is expected to live for 86 years, deliver her child in a medical institution under skilled supervision and receive appropriate attention during her old age, her contemporary born in Angola, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Zambia or Zimbabwe is expected to live for about 40 years, deliver her child at home without any skilled supervision and struggle to receive adequate care during old age if she survives that long. The child cannot be faulted for this diverse prospect of length and quality of life: countries that are home to such disadvantaged population groups are in extreme poverty and express their helplessness to rescue such groups. When countries are poor and small, their economies or governments are not in a position to respond effectively to diseases that predominantly affect their poor citizens. This inability to deal adequately with complex situations further impedes such countries’ growth. As a result, many low-income countries, where most of the world’s poor live, are drifting away, in developmental terms, from the rest of the world.
On the other hand, the poor living in countries that are doing well economically face a different set of problems. Such people live alongside the rich and face similar market conditions due to increased globalization and monetization of economies. Possibilities to deal with the problems of poverty exist in better-off countries, but the poor often lack access to them. In such countries, the usefulness of economic growth lies in what it does to enhance people’s health and welfare. “Growth” has no meaning if millions of the poor lack access to basic amenities, such as health care.
Whether developing or not, many low-income countries are caught in several traps which prevent them from prospering. To make things worse, the present global economy is unfavourable to the bottom billion people and the countries in which they live. Hence, it is much harder for disadvantaged countries to break out of the traps in which they find themselves. In this book, Paul Collier discusses four such traps that have previously received little attention. Interestingly, what many people would consider to be a source of prosperity – natural resources – is seen as a trap by the author. The other traps he discusses are conflict, being landlocked and surrounded by bad neighbours, and bad governance.
The author claims that low-income, slow economic growth and high dependence on primary commodity exports are the key determinants of civil war, which is likely to continue longer if a country’s income is low. Civil war also tends to reduce a country’s economic growth by about 2.3% per annum. He notes that 73% of people among the bottom billion have been affected by civil war recently, 29% live in countries where natural wealth dominates the economy, 30% live in countries that are landlocked and resource-scarce and have bad neighbours, and 76% have lived through a prolonged period of bad governance and poor economic policies.
The future progress of the bottom billion people is crucial for health and health system development. These are the people caught in the poverty/ill-health trap. Inequities in access to health care suffered by this group further disadvantage it. Conflicts, bad governance and lack of development clearly have an effect on the national health systems of the worst-affected countries. Breaking out of the traps discussed in the book is important for future health system development, and understanding these and other barriers to development is the essential first step. The book is a welcome contribution to health development literature and makes excellent reading for those who are concerned about poverty and the poor, and for those who tend to think that economic growth is the sum total of human welfare.
The book powerfully describes the increasing income divisions between sections of populations; the difficulties that development agencies face in placing materials and staff in areas with maximum needs; governments’ inabilities and failures to deal with the situation; and investment failures in poor settings. The book also serves as a timely reminder for carrying out suitable policy and development responses. The author’s rich African experience is reflected in the valuable country examples provided, while the narrative style makes the book read well. A deliberately pessimistic view of the future prospects of the bottom billion is presented, but the book does provide some suggestions that the affected countries and the Group of Eight (G8) countries could adopt to improve the status quo. The book would have benefited from use of an analytical framework to better depict the evidence presented. ■
894 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the political ecology of conservation, particularly the establishment of protected areas (PAs), and dis-cuss the implications of the idea of pristine nature, the social impacts of and the politics of PA establishment and the way the benefits and costs of PAs are allocated.
Abstract: Action to conserve biodiversity, particularly through the creation of protected areas (PAs), is inherently political. Political ecology is a field of study that embraces the interactions between the way nature is understood and the politics and impacts of environmental action. This paper explores the political ecology of conservation, particularly the establishment of PAs. It dis- cusses the implications of the idea of pristine nature, the social impacts of and the politics of PA establishment and the way the benefits and costs of PAs are allocated. It considers three key political issues in contemporary international conservation policy: the rights of indigenous people, the relationship between biodiversity conservation and the reduction of poverty, and the arguments of those advocating a return to conventional PAs that exclude people.
778 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The Human Development Report 2007/8 as discussed by the authors argues that climate change poses challenges at many levels and challenges the entire human community to undertake prompt and strong collective action based on shared values and a shared vision.
Abstract: Climate change is the defining human development challenge of the 21st Century. Failure to respond to that challenge will stall and then reverse international efforts to reduce poverty. The poorest countries and most vulnerable citizens will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks, even though they have contributed least to the problem. Looking to the future, no country — however wealthy or powerful — will be immune to the impact of global warming.The Human Development Report 2007/8 shows that climate change is not just a future scenario. Increased exposure to droughts, floods and storms is already destroying opportunity and reinforcing inequality. Meanwhile, there is now overwhelming scientific evidence that the world is moving towards the point at which irreversible ecological catastrophe becomes unavoidable. Business-as-usual climate change points in a clear direction: unprecedented reversal in human development in our lifetime, and acute risks for our children and their grandchildren.There is a window of opportunity for avoiding the most damaging climate change impacts, but that window is closing: the world has less than a decade to change course. Actions taken — or not taken — in the years ahead will have a profound bearing on the future course of human development. The world lacks neither the financial resources nor the technological capabilities to act. What is missing is a sense of urgency, human solidarity and collective interest.As the Human Development Report 2007/8 argues, climate change poses challenges at many levels. In a divided but ecologically interdependent world, it challenges all people to reflect upon how we manage the environment of the one thing that we share in common: planet Earth. It challenges us to reflect on social justice and human rights across countries and generations. It challenges political leaders and people in rich nations to acknowledge their historic responsibility for the problem, and to initiate deep and early cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Above all, it challenges the entire human community to undertake prompt and strong collective action based on shared values and a shared vision.
733 citations
TL;DR: The bottom of the pyramid (BOP) proposition argues that large companies can make a fortune by selling to poor people and simultaneously help eradicate poverty as mentioned in this paper, but the market at the BOP is generally too small monetarily to be very profitable for most multinationals.
Abstract: The popular "bottom of the pyramid" (BOP) proposition argues that large companies can make a fortune by selling to poor people and simultaneously help eradicate poverty. While a few market opportunities do exist, the market at the BOP is generally too small monetarily to be very profitable for most multinationals. At the same time, the private sector can play a key role in poverty alleviation by viewing the poor as producers, and emphasize buying from them, rather than selling to them.
TL;DR: It is argued that a basic, evidence-based package of services for core mental disorders should be scaled up, and that protection of the human rights of people with mental disorders and their families should be strengthened.
University Health Network1, University of Oxford2, University of Auckland3, Canadian Institutes of Health Research4, Medical Research Council5, University of Sydney6, Indian Council of Medical Research7, National Institutes of Health8, Emory University9, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences10, PepsiCo11, John Radcliffe Hospital12
TL;DR: The top 20 policy and research priorities for conditions such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease are revealed.
Abstract: The top 20 policy and research priorities for conditions such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide new evidence on the extent to which absolute poverty has urbanized in the developing world, and the role that population urbanization has played in overall poverty reduction, finding that one-quarter of the world's consumption poor live in urban areas and that the proportion has been rising over time.
Abstract: The authors provide new evidence on the extent to which absolute poverty has urbanized in the developing world, and the role that population urbanization has played in overall poverty reduction. They find that one-quarter of the world's consumption poor live in urban areas and that the proportion has been rising over time. By fostering economic growth, urbanization helped reduce absolute poverty in the aggregate but did little for urban poverty. Over 1993-2002, the count of the"$1 a day"poor fell by 150 million in rural areas but rose by 50 million in urban areas. The poor have been urbanizing even more rapidly than the population as a whole. Looking forward, the recent pace of urbanization and current forecasts for urban population growth imply that a majority of the poor will still live in rural areas for many decades to come. There are marked regional differences: Latin America has the most urbanized poverty problem, East Asia has the least; there has been a"ruralization"of poverty in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; in marked contrast to other regions, Africa's urbanization process has not been associated with falling overall poverty.
TL;DR: This review proposes a conceptual framework linking the Food Stamp Program and other coping strategies to the food insecurity-obesity relationship, which has implications for Food Stamp program policy changes, welfare reform, and poverty prevention.
Abstract: During the past decade, rates of food insecurity and obesity have risen, and an association has been made between these two seemingly paradoxical states Although this relationship has not been repeatedly seen in men, research suggests a correlation in women Studies have not been able to consistently show a relationship in children, because findings differ based on age, race/ethnicity, household income, and sex Several proposed hypotheses explain why a correlation between food insecurity and obesity exists in adults—especially women—but not in children This review proposes a conceptual framework linking the Food Stamp Program and other coping strategies to the food insecurity–obesity relationship This link has implications for Food Stamp Program policy changes, welfare reform, and poverty prevention
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the impact of the steadily growing remittance flows to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and find that remittances, which are a stable, private transfer, have a direct poverty mitigating effect, and promote financial development.
Abstract: This paper assesses the impact of the steadily growing remittance flows to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Though the region receives only a small portion of the total recorded remittances to developing countries, and the volume of aid flows to SSA swamps remittances, this paper finds that remittances, which are a stable, private transfer, have a direct poverty mitigating effect, and promote financial development. These findings hold even after factoring in the reverse causality between remittances, poverty and financial development. The paper posits that formalizing such flows can serve as an effective access point for "unbanked" individuals and households, and that the effective use of such flows can mitigate the costs of skilled out-migration in SSA.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the black American ghetto and the French working-class banlieue at century's turn, and highlight three distinctive spatial properties of ''advanced marginality'' - territorial fixation and stigmatization, spatial alienation and the dissolution of 'place', and the loss of a hinterland.
Abstract: The comparative sociology of the structure, dynamics, and experience of urban relegation in the United States and the European Union during the past three decades reveals the emergence of a new regime of marginality. This regime generates forms of poverty that are neither residual, nor cyclical or transitional, but inscribed in the future of contemporary societies insofar as they are fed by the ongoing fragmentation of the wage labour relationship, the functional disconnection of dispossessed neighbourhoods from the national and global economies, and the reconfiguration of the welfare state in the polarizing city. Based on a methodical comparison between the black American ghetto and the French working-class banlieue at century's turn, this article spotlights three distinctive spatial properties of `advanced marginality' — territorial fixation and stigmatization, spatial alienation and the dissolution of `place', and the loss of a hinterland — and draws out their implications for the formation of the `pre...
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a large cross-country panel dataset to find that remittances in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have increased growth and reduced inequality and poverty.
Abstract: Workers' remittances have become a major source of income for developing countries. However, little is still known about their impact on poverty and inequality. Using a large cross-country panel dataset, the authors find that remittances in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have increased growth and reduced inequality and poverty. These results are robust to the use of different instruments that attempt to correct for the potential endogeneity of remittances. Household survey-based estimates for 10 LAC countries confirm that remittances have negative albeit relatively small inequality and poverty-reducing effects, even after imputations for the potential home earnings of migrants.
TL;DR: There is a need to go beyond the identification of broad strategies to the design and evaluation of specific policy measures only through experimentation and evaluation to learn what works in raising health care utilization, particularly among the poor in the developing world.
Abstract: Effective health care interventions are underutilized in the developing world, and income-related disparities in use are large. The evidence concerning this access problem is summarized and its demand side causes are identified. Broad strategies that have been proposed to tackle the access problem through changes in economic incentives are considered. It is argued that there is a need to go beyond the identification of broad strategies to the design and evaluation of specific policy measures. Only through experimentation and evaluation will we learn what works in raising health care utilization, particularly among the poor in the developing world.
Book•
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the contribution that inland and coastal small-scale fisheries can make to poverty alleviation and food security and make practical suggestions on ways that this contribution can be maximized.
Abstract: The objectives of this Technical Paper are to highlight the contribution that inland and coastal small-scale fisheries can make to poverty alleviation and food security and to make practical suggestions on ways that this contribution can be maximized. This paper is organized into three main sections. The first section discusses the concepts of poverty, vulnerability and food security, and briefly outlines how these concepts have evolved in recent years within the field of fisheries (in line with the rest of the development literature). The second section reviews the actual and potential contribution of small-scale fisheries to poverty alleviation and food security. It illustrates, through use of examples, the role that small-scale fisheries can play in economic growth at the national level and poverty alleviation and rural development at the local level.The third and main section of the document discusses ways of increasing the contribution of small-scale fisheries to poverty alleviation and food security.
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a pioneering, comprehensive picture of child well being through the consideration of six dimensions: material well-being, health and safety, education, family and peer relationships, subjective wellbeing, behaviours and lifestyles informed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant academic literature.
Abstract: This report builds and expands upon the analyses of Report Card 6 which considered relative income poverty affecting children and policies to mitigate it. Report Card 7 provides a pioneering, comprehensive picture of child well being through the consideration of six dimensions: material well-being, health and safety, education, family and peer relationships, subjective well-being, behaviours and lifestyles informed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant academic literature.
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential impact of agricultural technology adoption on poverty alleviation strategies was investigated through an empirical investigation of the relationship between technological change, of the Green Revolution type, and wellbeing of smallholder farm households in two rural Bangladeshi regions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used case studies of six Kenyan CBEs spread across Kenya's tourism-focused community-based initiatives selected using opportunistic and snowball sampling, and developed a detailed understanding of the CBEs, identifying the catalyst for their establishment and the role and degree of external intervention.
Abstract: The United Nations World Tourism Organization endorses tourism for economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries, emphasising the role of micro-, small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises. In Kenya, community-based enterprises (CBEs) are preferred. This paper evaluates CBE potential and challenges for poverty reduction in Kenya. Reviewing literature on Kenyan tourism development, it uses case studies of six Kenyan CBEs spread across Kenya's tourism-focused community-based initiatives selected using opportunistic and snowball sampling. The case studies used individual in-depth semi-structured interviews with community leaders, CBE managers, tourism academics, support organisations and government officials, and focus groups with community members. The paper develops a detailed understanding of the CBEs, identifying the catalyst for their establishment and the role and degree of external intervention. It explores critical success factors, the extent to which CBEs alleviate poverty, and...
TL;DR: In this paper, a meta-analysis of 51 case studies from 17 countries was carried out to investigate the extent to which rural people in developing countries depend on forest environmental income, and the main sources of forest environmental incomes are fuelwood, wild foods and fodder.
TL;DR: The idea of utilizing tourism to eliminate poverty has been embraced by donors, governments, non-governmental organisations, conservation organisations and tourism bodies, including the World Tourism Organisation as discussed by the authors. But the relationship between poverty and tourism has varied widely over the past half century, and many social scientists argued that poor people and non-western countries are typically excluded from or disadvantaged by what tourism can offer.
Abstract: Current discourse surrounding ‘pro-poor tourism’, a term emerging out of the writing of UK researchers in the late 1990s, suggests that tourism can effectively work as a tool to alleviate poverty. This proposition is alluring given that tourism is a significant or growing economic sector in most countries with high levels of poverty. Consequently the idea of utilising tourism to eliminate poverty has been embraced by donors, governments, non-governmental organisations, conservation organisations and tourism bodies, including the World Tourism Organisation. Academic views on the relationship between poverty and tourism have however varied widely over the past half century. While in the 1950s tourism was identified as a modernisation strategy that could help newly-independent Third World countries to earn foreign exchange, in the 1970s and 1980s many social scientists argued that poor people and non-Western countries are typically excluded from or disadvantaged by what tourism can offer. It is thus fascinat...
TL;DR: A clear trend decline in the percentage of people who are absolutely poor is evident, although with uneven progress across regions, and a marked urbanization of poverty in the developing world, which is stronger in some regions than others, although it remains that three-quarters of the poor live in rural areas.
Abstract: The authors report new estimates of measures of absolute poverty for the developing world over 1981-2004. A clear trend decline in the percentage of people who are absolutely poor is evident, although with uneven progress across regions. They find more mixed success in reducing the total number of poor. Indeed, the developing world outside China has seen little or no sustained progress in reducing the number of poor, with rising poverty counts in some regions, notably Sub-Saharan Africa. There are encouraging signs of progress in reducing the incidence of poverty in all regions after 2000, although it is too early to say if this is a new trend.
TL;DR: In this article, the linkages between livestock keeping and the physical well-being of the poor in the developing world is discussed, and a number of commonly held beliefs that misrepresent livestock development issues related to these linkages.
Abstract: Livestock keeping is critical for many of the poor in the developing world, often contributing to multiple livelihood objectives and offering pathways out of poverty. Livestock keeping also affects an indispensable asset of the poor, their human capital, through its impact on their own nutrition and health. This paper outlines the linkages between livestock keeping and the physical well-being of the poor, and examines a number of commonly held beliefs that misrepresent livestock development issues related to these linkages. These beliefs limit the scope of intervention programs to promote livestock and limit their potential contribution to poverty reduction. Recognition of the complexity of the role livestock play in household decision-making and of the opportunities foregone due to these misconceptions can enhance the ability of livestock to contribute to human well-being in the developing world.
Book•
31 Jul 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors synthesize both the traditional theoretical literature on agriculture's role in the development process and discusses more recent literature that remains skeptical about agriculture's development potential for Africa.
Abstract: "This paper provides a nuanced perspective on debates about the potential for Africa's smallholder agriculture to stimulate growth and alleviate poverty in an increasingly integrated world. In particular, the paper synthesizes both the traditional theoretical literature on agriculture's role in the development process and discusses more recent literature that remains skeptical about agriculture's development potential for Africa. In order to examine in greater detail the relevance for Africa of both the “old” and “new” literatures on agriculture, the paper provides a typology of African countries based on their stage of development, agricultural conditions, natural resources, and geographic location... More broadly, the paper demonstrates that conventional theory on the role of agriculture in the early stage of development remains relevant to Africa. While the continent does face new and different challenges than those encountered by Asian and Latin American countries during their successful transformations, most African countries cannot significantly reduce poverty, increase per capita incomes, and transform into modern economies without focusing on agricultural development." from Authors' Abstract
TL;DR: In the 2001 Canadian census, 14 145 people were counted as living in a shelter, of note, 1490 (0r 10%) people were under homeless.
Abstract: Homelessness is evolving into a national and international crisis. Within developed countries, homeless rates are now believed to approximate 1% of most urban populations.[1][1] In the 2001 Canadian census, 14 145 people were counted as living in a shelter. Of note, 1490 (0r 10%) people were under
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a large cross-country panel dataset to find that remittances in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have increased growth and reduced inequality and poverty.