Emerging Urban Poverty and Effects of the Dibao Program on Alleviating Poverty in China

The present paper describes the current urban poverty situation,examines the factors affecting the probability of a household being in poverty and investigates how the urban minimum living standard guarantee (dibao) program helps poor people to get out of poverty. The targeting efficiency of the urban dibao program is discussed. The present study finds that the poverty rate of households with unemployed workers is much higher than that of households without unemployed workers. The urban dibao program is helpful in reducing poverty rates,but it does not reduce poverty rates too much. The government should place emphasis on helping laid-off and unemployed workers to become reemployed. The most urgent problem for the dibao program is improving the efficiency of targeting.     

Poverty and Vulnerability in Indonesia Before and After the Economic Crisis

It is well known that the economic crisis in Indonesia has caused the poverty rate to increase significantly. The present study finds, not only that the poverty rate increased significantly, but also that much of the increase was due to a large increase in the chronic poor category (i.e. the poor who have expected consumption below the poverty line and most likely will stay poor in the near future). Furthermore, the present study also finds that the proportion of households that have high vulnerability to poverty has more than doubled since the economic crisis. As a result, the proportion of the total vulnerable group (the current poor plus the high vulnerability group) has jumped from less than one-fifth of the population before the crisis to more than one-third after the crisis.     

Determinants of Poverty Status in Rwanda

This study finds determinants of poverty status using the 2010–11 Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (EICV3) and suggests policy implications for poverty reduction in Rwanda. Characteristics of households related to poverty status are considered in an ordered probit model and marginal effects are calculated. Policies towards supporting a female household, controlling the birthrate of a household and alleviating regional disparity, especially with a focus on rural areas and the Southern Province will be effective. In addition, supporting farmers who do not own a farm and increasing vocational programmes may be also helpful for poverty reduction in Rwanda. Expanding the land use consolidation programme with a facilitating food market may be beneficial.     

宁夏回族自治区乡村旅游扶贫研究

乡村旅游扶贫是我国扶贫工作的重点。宁夏民族地区以其独特的自然优势将乡村旅游扶贫工作发挥的淋漓尽致,不仅帮助了贫困户实现脱贫,还带动了产业的转型。针对宁夏回族自治区为分析其贫困现状和导致贫困的原因进行了研究,以及展开对乡村旅游扶贫的优劣势和面临的阻碍。根据分析结果,探讨了宁夏乡村旅游扶贫的问题与对策。     

Neighborhood Effects and Regional Poverty Traps in Rural China

The present paper investigates how neighborhood effects are connected to chronic poverty. We examine a large sample of groups of households and find that neighborhood effects are significant in a majority of groups, especially in the poorest groups. People living in poor communities tend to suffer from poverty over time. It is of theoretical and empirical importance to explore how neighborhood effects are interrelated with chronic poverty and the channels through which this occurs. Unlike other econometric analyses, we establish a multilevel econometric model to show that： （i） it is difficult for an individual living in a neighborhood with a high proportion of agricultural labor, low education levels, and poor transport and telecommunication infrastructure to escape from poverty traps; （ii） neighborhood effects dominate in poor communities; and （iii） although poverty is affected by group-level factors, individual factors still play a dominant role in regards to escaping poverty when income surpasses a threshold level Therefore, policy priority should be given to providing social protection and public services, especially in poor rural areas.     

Beyond Income: What Else Predicts Very Low Food Security Among Children?

We examine characteristics and correlates of households in the United States that are most likely to have children at risk of inadequate nutrition—those that report very low food security (VLFS) among their children. Using 11 years of the Current Population Survey, plus data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), we describe these households in great detail with the goal of trying to understand how these households differ from households without such severe food insecurity. While household income certainly plays an important role in determining VLFS among children, we find that even after flexibly controlling for income‐to‐poverty rates some household characteristics and patterns of program participation have important additional explanatory power. Finally, our examination of the NHANES data suggests an important role for both mental and physical health of adults in the household in determining the food security status of children.     

Censored Quantile Regressions of Chronic and Transient Seasonal Poverty in Rwanda

It is crucial for social policy in Less Developed Countriesto identify correlates of poverty at the household level. Thishas been done in the literature by estimating household povertyequations typically with Tobit and Probit models. However, whenthe errors in these equations are non-normal and heteroscedastic,which is usually expected, these models deliver biased estimates.Using quarterly data from Rwanda in 1983, we reject the normalityand homoscedasticity assumptions for household chronic and transientlatent poverty equations. We treat this problem by estimatingcensored quantile regressions. Our results of censored quantileregressions and of inconsistent Tobit regressions are substantiallydifferent. However, in the case of chronic poverty the signsof the apparently significant coefficients are generally inagreement, while for seasonal transient poverty different variableshave significant effects for the two estimation methods. Oursecond contribution is to study, for the first time, correlatesof poverty indicators based on quarterly consumptions. Our resultsshow that in Rwanda different correlates are significant forchronic poverty and for transient seasonal poverty. The effectsof the main inputs (land and labour) are more important forthe chronic component of poverty than for the transient one.Household location and socio-demographic characteristics playimportant roles that are consistent with usual explanationsof poverty in the literature.     

Assessing the Extent and Nature of Chronic Poverty in Low Income Countries: Issues and Evidence

Discussions of chronic poverty have mostly considered its monetary dimensions, with current evidence suggesting that such poverty is much more transient than chronic. But chronic poverty is a real and important phenomenon, potentially more important quantitatively than it first appears once account is taken of different methodological approaches and inevitable measurement difficulties. The chronic poor have distinctive characteristics, such as lack of assets or high dependency rates, which may account for their persistent poverty. The paper argues that it is also necessary to develop concepts of chronic poverty further, covering relevant nonmonetary dimensions and not just relying on panel data.     

Poverty and vulnerability in rural China: effects of taxation

This paper studies the impact of taxation on poverty and ex ante vulnerability of households in rural China based on national household survey data in 1988, 1995 and 2002. It has been confirmed that (i) poverty and vulnerability have reduced significantly with a great deal of geographical disparity; (ii) education, land, and access to infrastructure and irrigation facilities are the key factors to reduce vulnerability; and (iii) the highly regressive tax system increased farmers’ poverty and vulnerability. The abolishment of rural tax since 2006 would thus have a significant negative impact on both poverty and vulnerability of rural households.     

Community‐driven Development: A Viable Approach to Poverty Reduction in Rural Burkina Faso

Abstract: Various efforts by national governments, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and international donors have shown limited success in reducing poverty in sub‐Saharan Africa. As a result, poverty is still persistent in most households especially in rural areas. The persistence of poverty on the continent can be in part attributed to the top‐down approach to development adopted by various poverty alleviation programs. This paper focuses on poverty reduction programs in Burkina Faso and argues that a community‐driven approach to development and poverty reduction has the potential of lifting rural populations out of poverty trap.     

The determinants of poverty dynamics in Indonesia: evidence from panel data

We use the ‘spell’ approach to identifying poverty and apply an ordered logit model to examine the determinants of poverty dynamics in Indonesia, categorising households as poor, transient poor (–), transient poor (+) or non-poor. Observing the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) balanced-panel data sets of 2005 and 2007, we found that 28% of poor households are classified as chronically poor (that is, remaining poor in two periods) while 7% of non-poor households are vulnerable to being transient poor (–). Our estimations confirmed that the determinants of poverty dynamics in Indonesia are educational attainment, the number of household members, physical assets, employment status, health shocks, the microcredit program, access to electricity, and changes in employment sector, employment status and the number of household members. We also found that households in Java–Bali are more vulnerable to negative shocks than those outside Java–Bali.     

Poverty in Edwardian Britain

This article introduces a newly discovered household budget data set for 1904. We use these data to estimate urban poverty among working families in the British Isles. Applying Bowley's poverty line, we estimate that at least 23 per cent of people in urban working households and 18 per cent of working households had income insufficient to meet minimum needs. This is well above Rowntree's estimate of primary poverty for York in 1899 and high in the range that Bowley found in northern towns in 1912–13. The skill gradient of poverty is steep; for instance, among labourers' households, the poverty rates are close to 50 per cent. Measures of the depth of poverty are relatively low in the data, suggesting that most poor male-headed working households were close to meeting Bowley's new standard.     

Poverty Alleviation in the People's Republic of China: The Implications for Sino–African Cooperation in Poverty Reduction

Abstract: In the last thirty years, remarkable achievements have been made in China's poverty reduction course. The dramatic fall in China's poor can be attributed mainly to a high rate of economic growth, government poverty reduction policies and targeted programmes and pro‐poor macroeconomic and industrial policies. This paper focuses on China's poverty reduction policies and programmes and their impact on the poor regions and poor households. Lessons are drawn for poverty reduction and economic development in African countries. The paper also explores the potential for collaboration in poverty reduction between China and African countries and recommendations are made for the governments and donor agencies.     

Public Expenditure,Growth and Poverty Reduction in Rural Uganda

Abstract: Using district‐level data for 1992, 1995, and 1999, the study estimated effects of different types of government expenditure on agricultural growth and rural poverty in Uganda. The results reveal that government spending on agricultural research and extension improved agricultural production substantially. This type of expenditure had the largest measured returns to growth in agricultural production. Agricultural research and extension spending also had the largest assessed impact on poverty reduction. Government spending on rural roads also had a substantial marginal impact on rural poverty reduction. The impact of low‐grade roads such as feeder roads is larger than that of high‐grade roads such as murram and tarmac roads. Education's effects rank after agricultural research and extension, and roads. Government spending in health did not show a large impact on growth in agricultural productivity or a reduction in rural poverty. Additional investments in the northern region (a poor region) contribute the most to reducing poverty. However, it is the western region (a relatively well‐developed region) where most types of investment have highest returns in terms of increased agricultural productivity.     

Agricultural Technology, Crop Income, and Poverty Alleviation in Uganda

This paper evaluates the ex post impact of adopting improved groundnut varieties on crop income and poverty in rural Uganda. The study utilizes cross-sectional data of 927 households, collected in 2006, from seven districts in Uganda. Using propensity score matching methods, we find that adopting improved groundnut varieties (technology) significantly increases crop income and reduces poverty. The positive and significant impact on crop income is consistent with the perceived role of new agricultural technologies in reducing rural poverty through increased farm household income. This study supports broader investment in agriculture research to address vital development challenges. Reaching the poor with better technologies however requires policy support for improving extension efforts, access to seeds and market outlets that simulate adoption.     

Poverty,Vulnerability and Social Protection in a Period of Crisis: The Case of Indonesia

Before the financial crisis of mid-1997, estimates of consumption poverty in Indonesia were based on rather modest poverty line thresholds when seen in relation to estimates of capability poverty. The reasons behind this discrepancy are identified and alternative estimates of consumption poverty for the pre-crisis period proposed. During the crisis, the behavior of consumption poverty can be described as transient in nature and is relevant in understanding the notion of vulnerability, that is, the risk that individuals and households can experience temporary episodes of poverty. Vulnerability could have worsened, however, in the absence of government intervention, entailing macroeconomic stabilization measures and social protection initiatives. Based on this experience, a fiscally sustainable social safety net, that is able to reinforce household coping mechanisms and social capital, is recommended as part of the country's medium-term strategy to combat poverty.     

Poverty identification: practice and policy implications in Vietnam

To identify poor households, the government of Vietnam applies a combination of proxy means tests and quick collection of income data. This paper examines how well the government's poverty identification reaches the really poor in Vietnam. It is found that there is a large difference between the poverty rate for provinces and districts reported by the government and the rates estimated using expenditure and income data from independent household surveys. There is also a large difference between the poverty status of households identified by local authorities and the poverty status identified by income or expenditure data. More than 50 per cent of the poor households identified by local authorities are not poor in terms of income or expenditure measures. A better identification approach would be to use only proxy means tests and not income data collected using the simple questionnaire.     

金融普惠可以提高减贫质量吗?——基于多维贫困的分析

切实提高减贫质量对我国打赢打好脱贫攻坚战和守住脱贫成果至关重要。金融普惠作为当前我国金融改革和脱贫攻坚的重要举措,是否有助于提高减贫质量仍是有待回答的问题。文章基于中国家庭金融调查2015年数据,从多维贫困和多维贫困脆弱性两方面出发研究了金融普惠对我国农村减贫质量的影响。研究发现,金融普惠可以同时降低农村家庭多维贫困和多维贫困脆弱性,并且对多维贫困问题严重的农村家庭有更大的作用;区分不同贫困和不同金融服务发现,金融普惠可以显著降低收入贫困、教育贫困及生活质量贫困,对健康贫困的影响则不显著;银行营业网点与金融服务点渗透、以及储蓄、贷款、保险及数字金融服务使用可以提高减贫质量,而其他金融机构渗透、信用卡使用及银行服务评价的作用相对有限。进一步地,文章研究了金融普惠减贫质量效应的环境条件,发现村庄市场及制度环境和家庭需求环境改善有助于充分发挥金融普惠的积极作用,相反则可能构成一定的制约。最后,文章检验了金融普惠的影响机制,发现促进农村家庭人力与物质资本积累、以及地区经济发展等在其中发挥了重要的中介作用。文章结论为我国提高减贫质量提供了可靠的政策工具,同时也可促进我国全面建成小康社会和经济实现高质量发展。     

Unemployment, Poverty and Income Disparity in Urban China

This paper studies the issues of unemployment and poverty that have been appearing recently in urban China. It estimates the urban unemployment rate, poverty rate and income disparity using a new sample survey data set. Meanwhile, it analyzes the relationship between unemployment and poverty, and the effects of poverty on urban inequality. The main findings are that: (i) the urban unemployment rate reached 11.6% in 1999 and was a major cause of urban poverty; (ii) growing urban poverty is becoming the significant source of worsening urban inequality; and (iii) migrant households have an increasing influence on urban poverty and the pattern of urban income distribution. The paper concludes that urban income distribution has worsened since 1995, and urban unemployment and poverty are the major factors in this worsening.