Showing papers on "Poverty published in 2014"
TL;DR: Evidence indicates that poverty causes stress and negative affective states which in turn may lead to short-sighted and risk-averse decision-making, possibly by limiting attention and favoring habitual behaviors at the expense of goal-directed ones, which may constitute a feedback loop that contributes to the perpetuation of poverty.
Abstract: Poverty remains one of the most pressing problems facing the world; the mechanisms through which poverty arises and perpetuates itself, however, are not well understood. Here, we examine the evidence for the hypothesis that poverty may have particular psychological consequences that can lead to economic behaviors that make it difficult to escape poverty. The evidence indicates that poverty causes stress and negative affective states which in turn may lead to short-sighted and risk-averse decision-making, possibly by limiting attention and favoring habitual behaviors at the expense of goal-directed ones. Together, these relationships may constitute a feedback loop that contributes to the perpetuation of poverty. We conclude by pointing toward specific gaps in our knowledge and outlining poverty alleviation programs that this mechanism suggests.
1,049 citations
TL;DR: Recommendations to improve the surveillance of morbidity and mortality in homeless people are discussed, including programmes focused on high-risk groups, such as individuals leaving prisons, psychiatric hospitals and the child welfare system, and the introduction of national and state-wide plans that target homeless people.
977 citations
TL;DR: Results from a comparative analysis of environmental income from approximately 8000 households in 24 developing countries collected by research partners in CIFOR’s Poverty Environment Network (PEN).
842 citations
762 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2014
485 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that it is not so much a matter of whether to participate in global processes, but how to do so in a way that provides sustainable income growth for poor people and for poor countries.
Abstract: In recent years, globalization has been associated with increasing inequality within and between countries, and with a stubbornly large share of the world's population living in poverty. If the "losers" had been confined to those who did not participate in the global economy, then the policy implications would be clear--join the rush. But, when (as is the case) the "losers" include those who have participated in global processes, then the policy challenge is much more daunting. It is not so much a matter of whether to participate in global processes, but how to do so in a way that provides sustainable income growth for poor people and for poor countries. In these circumstances, policy needs to address processes of production and product development, including both intrafirm organization and the relationship between firms. It also needs to address the ways in which poor producers and poor countries connect with producers and consumers in the global economy. Value-chain analysis--which includes t...
478 citations
Book•
14 Oct 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and the Department for International Development (DID) developed a methodology for urban poverty reduction, focusing on the situation and strategies of poor people.
Abstract: Foreword by Clare Short * Preface: the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and the Department for International Development * Introduction * Part 1: Livelihoods and the Poverty Context * Part 2: Understanding the Situations and Strategies of Poor People* Part 3: The Policy Implications of Urban Livelihoods Analysis * Part 4: Urban Poverty Reduction: Lessons from Experience * Part 5: Conclusions * Index
439 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors exploit the opening of Banco Azteca in Mexico, a unique ''natural experiment� in which over 800 bank branches opened almost simultaneously in preexisting Elektra stores.
Abstract: This paper provides new evidence on the impact of access to finance on poverty. It highlights an important channel through which access affects poverty�the labor market. The paper exploits the opening of Banco Azteca in Mexico, a unique �natural experiment� in which over 800 bank branches opened almost simultaneously in preexisting Elektra stores. Importantly, the bank has focused on previously underserved low-income clients. Our key finding is a sizeable effect of access to finance on labor market activity and income levels, especially among low-income individuals and those located in areas with lower preexisting bank penetration.
393 citations
TL;DR: It is anticipated that obesity will continue to take a significant ascent, as observed by the sharp increase from 1999 to 2008, and the maximum mean BMI in more developed countries might be exceeded by those in less developed ones in the coming years.
Abstract: Obesity is a significant public health concern affecting more than half a billion people worldwide. Obesity rise is not only limited to developed countries, but to developing nations as well. This paper aims to compare the mean body mass index trends in the World Health Organisation- (WHO-) categorised regions since 1980 to 2008 and secondly to appraise how socioeconomic disparities can lead to differences in obesity and physical activity level across developing nations. Taking into account past and current BMI trends, it is anticipated that obesity will continue to take a significant ascent, as observed by the sharp increase from 1999 to 2008. Gender differences in BMI will continue to be as apparent, that is, women showing a higher BMI trend than men. In the coming years, the maximum mean BMI in more developed countries might be exceeded by those in less developed ones. Rather than focusing on obesity at the individual level, the immediate environment of the obese individual to broader socioeconomic contexts should be targeted. Most importantly, incentives at several organisational levels, the media, and educational institutions along with changes in food policies will need to be provided to low-income populations.
363 citations
TL;DR: To address race disparities in diabetes, policymakers should address problems created by concentrated poverty, and housing and development policies in urban areas should avoid creating high-poverty neighborhoods.
Abstract: Objectives We sought to determine the role of neighborhood poverty and racial composition on race disparities in diabetes prevalenceMethods We used data from the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 2000 US Census to estimate the impact of individual race and poverty and neighborhood racial composition and poverty concentration on the odds of having diabetesResults We found a race–poverty–place gradient for diabetes prevalence for Blacks and poor Whites The odds of having diabetes were higher for Blacks than for Whites Individual poverty increased the odds of having diabetes for both Whites and Blacks Living in a poor neighborhood increased the odds of having diabetes for Blacks and poor WhitesConclusions To address race disparities in diabetes, policymakers should address problems created by concentrated poverty (eg, lack of access to reasonably priced fruits and vegetables, recreational facilities, and health care services; high crime rates; and greater exposures to
TL;DR: This study empirically estimates previously unidentified contributions of ecotourism and other ecosystem services to poverty alleviation in the context of a real environmental program and develops an approach to quantifying the mechanisms through which protected areas affect poverty.
Abstract: To develop effective environmental policies, we must understand the mechanisms through which the policies affect social and environmental outcomes. Unfortunately, empirical evidence about these mechanisms is limited, and little guidance for quantifying them exists. We develop an approach to quantifying the mechanisms through which protected areas affect poverty. We focus on three mechanisms: changes in tourism and recreational services; changes in infrastructure in the form of road networks, health clinics, and schools; and changes in regulating and provisioning ecosystem services and foregone production activities that arise from land-use restrictions. The contributions of ecotourism and other ecosystem services to poverty alleviation in the context of a real environmental program have not yet been empirically estimated. Nearly two-thirds of the poverty reduction associated with the establishment of Costa Rican protected areas is causally attributable to opportunities afforded by tourism. Although protected areas reduced deforestation and increased regrowth, these land cover changes neither reduced nor exacerbated poverty, on average. Protected areas did not, on average, affect our measures of infrastructure and thus did not contribute to poverty reduction through this mechanism. We attribute the remaining poverty reduction to unobserved dimensions of our mechanisms or to other mechanisms. Our study empirically estimates previously unidentified contributions of ecotourism and other ecosystem services to poverty alleviation in the context of a real environmental program. We demonstrate that, with existing data and appropriate empirical methods, conservation scientists and policymakers can begin to elucidate the mechanisms through which ecosystem conservation programs affect human welfare.
04 Dec 2014
TL;DR: The UN Secretary General's "Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet" as discussed by the authors includes references to population ageing, data disaggregation by age, non-communicable diseases and universal social protection, as well as numerous explicit references to older people.
Abstract: The UN Secretary General’s Synthesis Report on the post-2015 agenda,“The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet”, includes references to population ageing, data disaggregation by age, non-communicable diseases and universal social protection – as well as numerous explicit references to older people. Read it here.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify self-employment opportunities, often exploited in abject poverty, that do not lead to sustainable growth solutions, and find that discovery and creation opportunities while difficult to exploit in poverty contexts hold the greatest potential for significant economic impact.
Abstract: Entrepreneurial activity does not always lead to economic growth. While improvements have been made to human capital, property rights protection, and access to financial capital in abject poverty contexts with the assumption that they will increase entrepreneurial activity, the results have been mixed. More recently, many entrepreneurs interested in poverty alleviation are crossing borders to engage in initiatives aimed at reducing poverty internationally. These efforts have also had mixed results. This paper posits that one reason is that entrepreneurial opportunities and their wealth creation potential vary, and the impact of exploiting these opportunities on economic growth in poverty contexts can also vary. This paper identifies self-employment opportunities, often exploited in abject poverty, that do not lead to sustainable growth solutions. Alternatively, discovery and creation opportunities while difficult to exploit in poverty contexts hold the greatest potential for significant economic impact.
TL;DR: Neighborhood racial composition and neighborhood poverty are independently associated with food store availability and these associations are not seen in rural areas which suggest that interventions should not be universal but developed locally.
Book•
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10 Jul 2014
TL;DR: Shame in the Everyday Experience of Poverty: Attitudes and Actions 10. Shaming People in Poverty: Media and Policy 11. Shame in America: Shaming people in America as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: 1. The Origins of Poverty 2. Poverty Research and Measurement 3. Constructions of Shame 4. Poverty, Shame, and Stigma 5. Cultural Conceptions of Poverty and Shame 6. Conceiving of Poverty Without Shame 7. Shame in the Everyday Experience of Poverty 8. Responses to Poverty-Related Shame 9. Shaming People in Poverty: Attitudes and Actions 10. Shaming People in Poverty: Media and Policy 11. Poverty, Shame, and Society References
Book Chapter•
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: Emerging evidence showed the picture to be far more complex than this, and considerations of socioeconomic status (SES) in relation to health were largely put aside and confined to its role as a control variable.
Abstract: © Cambridge University Press 2007. Background Although the influence of wealth, status and power on health has been documented across different cultures for centuries (Liberatos, Link & Kelsey, 1988), it was not until the nineteenth century that more systematic scientific evidence emerged showing that those who were more affluent lived longer and healthier (e.g. by Villerme (1840) in France, Chadwick (1842) in Britain and Virchow (1848) in Germany). However, with the advance of bacteriology in the late nineteenth century and the ensuing dominance of the biomedical paradigm of health and illness, considerations of socioeconomic status (SES) in relation to health were largely put aside and confined to its role as a control variable (House, 2002). With the realization of the limits of modern medicine, interest in social epidemiology and medical sociology grew again during the second half of the twentieth century (Bloom, 2002) and so did the output of research looking at SES, in particular poverty, and health. These early studies assumed a threshold effect of SES on health (Adler & Ostrove, 1999, see Figure 1); increases in income were thought to improve health only beneath, not above, a given ‘poverty line’. As discussed below, however, emerging evidence showed the picture to be far more complex than this. Main observations Socioeconomic status as used in research is a conglomeration of various concepts which centre around indicators of desirable social and material attributes.
Book•
11 Sep 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the power and paradoxes of credit in the United States, and the making of the poverty industry in Mexico, and their relationship with the microfinance industry and the housing industry.
Abstract: Introduction. Part I: Theorizing Money, Credit and Debtfare States Chapter 1: Demystifying Money, Chapter 2: The Power and Paradoxes of Credit, Chapter 3: Debtfare States, Part II: Debtfarism and the Poverty Industry in the United States, Preface to Part II: Debtfarism and the Making of the Poverty Industry, Chapter 4: Debtfarism and Credit Card Industry, Chapter 5: Debtfarism and Student Loan Industry, Chapter 6: Debtfarism and Payday Loan Industry, Part III: Debtfarism and the Poverty Industry in Mexico, Preface to Part III: Debtfarism, Development, and Dispossession, Chapter 7: Global Debtfarism and Universalization of Financial Inclusion, Chapter 8: Debtfarism and the Microfinance Industry, Chapter 9: Debtfarism and the Housing Industry, Conclusion.
06 May 2014
TL;DR: The World Development Indicators 2014 as mentioned in this paper provides a compilation of relevant, high-quality, and internationally comparable statistics about global development and the fight against poverty, with data for many indicators going back more than 50 years.
Abstract: World Development Indicators 2014 provides a compilation of relevant, high-quality, and internationally comparable statistics about global development and the fight against poverty. The database contains more than 1,300 time series indicators for 214 economies and more than 30 country groups, with data for many indicators going back more than 50 years. It is intended to help users of all kinds (policymakers, students, analysts, professors, program managers, and citizens) find and use data related to all aspects of development, including those that help monitor and understand progress toward the two goals. Six themes are used to organize indicators: world view, people, environment, economy, states and markets, and global links. As in past editions, world view reviews global progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and provides key indicators related to poverty. Each of the remaining sections includes an introduction; six stories highlighting specific global, regional or country trends; and a table of the most relevant and popular indicators for that theme, together with a discussion of indicator compilation methodology.
TL;DR: Higher income inequality across US counties was significantly associated with higher county-level rates of child maltreatment, contributing to the growing literature linking greater income inequality to a range of poor health and well-being outcomes in infants and children.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between county-level income inequality and rates of child maltreatment. METHODS: Data on substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect from 2005 to 2009 were obtained from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. County-level data on income inequality and children in poverty were obtained from the American Community Survey. Data for additional control variables were obtained from the American Community Survey and the Health Resources and Services Administration Area Resource File. The Gini coefficient was used as the measure of income inequality. Generalized additive models were estimated to explore linear and nonlinear relations among income inequality, poverty, and child maltreatment. In all models, state was included as a fixed effect to control for state-level differences in victim rates. RESULTS: Considerable variation in income inequality and child maltreatment rates was found across the 3142 US counties. Income inequality, as well as child poverty rate, was positively and significantly correlated with child maltreatment rates at the county level. Controlling for child poverty, demographic and economic control variables, and state-level variation in maltreatment rates, there was a significant linear effect of inequality on child maltreatment rates ( P CONCLUSIONS: Higher income inequality across US counties was significantly associated with higher county-level rates of child maltreatment. The findings contribute to the growing literature linking greater income inequality to a range of poor health and well-being outcomes in infants and children.
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that part of the reason why early poverty exposure is harmful to mental health among emerging adults is because of elevated cumulative risk exposure assessed at age 13, which is mediated by exposure to a confluence of psychosocial and physical risk factors during adolescence.
Abstract: One out of four American children are born into poverty, but little is known about the long-term, mental health implications of early deprivation. The more time in poverty from birth-age-9, the worse mental health as emerging adults (n = 196, M = 17.30 years, 53% male). These results maintain independently of concurrent, adult income levels for self-reported externalizing symptoms and a standard learned helplessness behavioral protocol, but internalizing symptoms were unaffected by childhood poverty. We then demonstrate that part of the reason why early poverty exposure is harmful to mental health among emerging adults is because of elevated cumulative risk exposure assessed at age 13. The significant, prospective, longitudinal relations between early childhood poverty and externalizing symptoms plus learned helplessness behavior are mediated, in part, by exposure to a confluence of psychosocial (violence, family turmoil, child separation from family) and physical (noise, crowding, substandard housing) risk factors during adolescence.
Book•
14 Apr 2014TL;DR: In this article, a re-imagining of child protection in the context of re-imagine welfare is discussed, with a focus on research-mindedness in learning cultures.
Abstract: Introduction Re-imagining child protection in the context of re-imagining welfare We need to talk about ethics Developing research mindedness in learning cultures Towards a Just Culture: Designing Humane Social Work Organisations Getting on and getting by: living with poverty Thinking afresh about relationships: Men, women, parents and services Tainted love: how dangerous families became troubled Conclusion References.
TL;DR: This work presents case studies drawn from ethnographic data involving daily participant-observation between 2005 and 2012 in public clinics and impoverished neighborhoods in New York City, to describe the subjective experience of structural stigma imposed by the increasing medicalization of public support for the poor through a diagnosis of permanent mental disability.
TL;DR: If a boost in income can help poor children, then a drop in income—for example, through cuts to social safety net programs like food stamps—can surely harm them, the authors warn.
Abstract: Families who live in poverty face disadvantages that can hinder their children's development in many ways, write Greg Duncan, Katherine Magnuson, and Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal. As they struggle to get by economically, and as they cope with substandard housing, unsafe neighborhoods, and inadequate schools, poor families experience more stress in their daily lives than more affluent families do, with a host of psychological and developmental consequences. Poor families also lack the resources to invest in things like high-quality child care and enriched learning experiences that give more affluent children a leg up. Often, poor parents also lack the time that wealthier parents have to invest in their children, because poor parents are more likely to be raising children alone or to work nonstandard hours and have inflexible work schedules. Can increasing poor parents' incomes, independent of any other sort of assistance, help their children succeed in school and in life? The theoretical case is strong, and Duncan, Magnuson, and Votruba-Drzal find solid evidence that the answer is yes--children from poor families that see a boost in income do better in school and complete more years of schooling, for example. But if boosting poor parents' incomes can help their children, a crucial question remains: Does it matter when in a child's life the additional income appears? Developmental neurobiology strongly suggests that increased income should have the greatest effect during children's early years, when their brains and other systems are developing rapidly, though we need more evidence to prove this conclusively. The authors offer examples of how policy makers could incorporate the findings they present to create more effective programs for families living in poverty. And they conclude with a warning: if a boost in income can help poor children, then a drop in income--for example, through cuts to social safety net programs like food stamps--can surely harm them.
TL;DR: Perceptions of rising absolute gaps in living standards between the rich and the poor in growing economies are consistent with the evidence, and high inequality threatens to stall future progress against poverty by attenuating growth prospects.
Abstract: Should income inequality be of concern in developing countries? New data reveal less income inequality in the developing world than 30 years ago. However, this is due to falling inequality between countries. Average inequality within developing countries has been slowly rising, though staying fairly flat since 2000. As a rule, higher rates of growth in average incomes have not put upward pressure on inequality within countries. Growth has generally helped reduce the incidence of absolute poverty, but less so in more unequal countries. High inequality also threatens to stall future progress against poverty by attenuating growth prospects. Perceptions of rising absolute gaps in living standards between the rich and the poor in growing economies are also consistent with the evidence.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an equity assessment of the distribution of accessibility in order to define the rate of "access poverty" among the population, and apply this analysis to regional transportation plan scenarios from the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on measures of differences between public transit and automobile access.
TL;DR: The concept of a poverty trap at the level of national economies is related to, and sometimes based on, microeconomic foundations that argue for the existence of poverty traps at the household level as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Why did per capita incomes not increase in Burundi, Haiti, and Nicaragua countries? One possible explanation is a poverty trap, which can be understood as a set of self-reinforcing mechanisms whereby countries start poor and remain poor: poverty begets poverty, so that current poverty is itself a direct cause of poverty in the future. It implies that much poverty is needless, in the sense that a different equilibrium is possible and also that one-time policy efforts that break the poverty trap may have lasting effects. The concept of a poverty trap at the level of national economies is related to, and sometimes based on, microeconomic foundations that argue for the existence of poverty traps at the household level. The authors discuss behavioral poverty traps as a recent area of research for which the evidence is just starting to accumulate, and geographic poverty traps as the most likely form of a trap. The policy prescriptions that result are then quite different from the calls for a big push in aid or expansion of microfinance to allow people to overcome credit constraints.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the impact of direct taxes and cash transfers on inequality and poverty reduction in Latin America, and found that indirect taxes more than offset the poverty-reducing impact of cash transfers.
Abstract: How much redistribution and poverty reduction is being accomplished in Latin America through social spending, subsidies, and taxes? Standard fiscal incidence analyses applied to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay using a comparable methodology yields the following results. Direct taxes and cash transfers reduce inequality and poverty by nontrivial amounts in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay but less so in Bolivia, Mexico, and Peru. While direct taxes are progressive, the redistributive impact is small because direct taxes as a share of GDP are generally low. Cash transfers are quite progressive in absolute terms, except in Bolivia where programs are not targeted to the poor. In Bolivia and Brazil, indirect taxes more than offset the poverty-reducing impact of cash transfers. When one includes the in-kind transfers in education and health, valued at government costs, they reduce inequality in all countries by considerably more than cash transfers, reflecting their relative size.
15 Jul 2014
TL;DR: The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported this project as part of its programme of research and innovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policymakers, practitioners and service users.
Abstract: Preface The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported this project as part of its programme of research and innovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policymakers, practitioners and service users. The facts presented and views expressed in this report are, however, those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation. Neither are the views expressed necessarily those of the other individuals or institutions mentioned here, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which has no corporate view. Co-funding from the ESRC-funded Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at IFS (grant number RES-544-28-0001) is also very gratefully acknowledged. Data from the Family Resources Survey were made available by the Department for Work and Pensions, which bears no responsibility for the interpretation of the data in this report. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) data were supplied through the UK Data Archive. The data are Crown Copyright and reproduced with the permission of the controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland. The authors would like to thank Paul Johnson, David Phillips and Luke Sibieta for their helpful comments. Any errors and all views expressed are those of the authors.
TL;DR: In this paper, a qualitative study at a food bank in the Netherlands, consisting among others of in-depth interviews with 17 participants, was conducted to examine how food, social status and interactions at the food bank induce emotions in receivers, such as shame, gratitude and anger.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address how food, social status as well as the interactions at the food bank induce emotions in receivers, such as shame, gratitude and anger. Since early 2000s a steadily growing number of low-income and/or over-indebted households in the Netherlands alleviate their situation with food donations from local food banks. Such food banks collect from companies edible food that would otherwise have gone to waste. The growing demand for food assistance indicates it is a welcome contribution to the groceries in many households. However, receiving food assistance as well as eating the products forces the receivers to set aside embodied dispositions towards food and norms about how to obtain food. Furthermore, it places them in interactions of charitable giving that may be harmful to the self-esteem of receivers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a qualitative study at a food bank in the Netherlands, consisting among others of in-depth interviews with 17...