Changes in poverty in Zimbabwe between 1990 and 1996: Worsening outcomes under adverse conditions

The article examines changes in poverty and sources of change in Zimbabwe between 1990 and 1996. Comparable national survey data are used for both periods. Findings indicate that levels of wellbeing and poverty worsened during the period, although there is some evidence that inequality is lower in the latter year. Rural poverty is more prevalent, severe and deeper than that in urban areas, but urban poverty grew dramatically during the period. Much of the growth of urban poverty is associated with economic restructuring and the failure of the urban economy to produce high-quality jobs. While the educational attainment of the urban population grew during the 1990s, secondary and higher levels of education were no longer a guarantee of escape from poverty in 1995/6. In rural areas, all land-use types exhibited an increase in poverty; these findings are robust to the welfare measure chosen.     

The Political Economy of Urban Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan African cities in the late 1990s face a daunting set of problems including rapid growth, increasing poverty, deteriorating infrastructure, and inadequate capacity for service provision. Even as a renewed debate is shaping up around issues of urban development, there is little attention given to the question of urban food security. Whereas in the 1970s and 1980s, urban food problems in Africa commanded political attention, the nature of urban food insecurity in the 1990s is such that it has tended to lose political importance. This is largely because in the 1970s, the problem was one of outright food shortages and rapid price changes that affected large portions of the urban population simultaneously. The impact of structural adjustment, continued rapid growth, and an increase in poverty make urban food insecurity in the 1990s primarily a problem of access by the urban poor. Under circumstances where the urban poor spend a very large portion of their total income on food, urban poverty rapidly translates into food insecurity. The lack of formal safety nets, and the shifting of responsibility for coping with food insecurity away from the state towards the individual and household level has tended to atomize and muffle any political response to this new urban food insecurity. This paper briefly reviews urban food insecurity and generates a set of empirical questions for an analysis of food and livelihood security in contemporary urban sub-Saharan Africa, and then examines historical and contemporary evidence from Kampala, Uganda, and Accra, Ghana, to suggest some tentative conclusions.     

Analysing post-apartheid poverty trends by geo-type, 1997–2012: The understated role of urbanisation and social grants

This article investigates poverty trends in post-apartheid South Africa with an explicit focus on differences between rural and urban areas. Using nationally representative household survey data from 1997–2012, I first describe changes in population characteristics and household access to different income sources and services, by urban–rural geo-type. Income data are then used to generate poverty statistics, which cast light on divergent trends in rural and urban areas. Next, I employ a poverty decomposition method to further explore some potential reasons why the poverty trends in rural and urban areas have differed. Data from the Afrobarometer are then used to probe how subjective non-monetary welfare has changed over time across geo-types. The evidence from all surveys suggests that the dramatic increase in access to services and social grants in rural areas has played a vital role in poverty reduction.     

国内外关于城镇贫困治理的主要经验及其启示

为了有针对性地提高现行贫困治理政策面向城镇贫困人口时的供给能力,本文对国内外关于城镇贫困治理的主要经验进行了梳理,并提出对我国城镇贫困治理的启示。研究发现,国外城镇贫困治理的主要经验是困治理制度覆盖范围广泛、保障项目丰富水平较高或灵活性较强、保障资金的筹集方式较为灵活;国内城镇贫困治理的主要经验是保障标准确定方式较为科学、严格准入制度细化分类救助、鼓励城镇贫困人口积极就业。最后从理念层面、技术层面、政策层面、制度层面提出了国内外经验的启示。     

Distributional Impact of Globalization‐induced Migration: Evidence from a Nigerian Village

Abstract: One of the contentious issues about the globalization process is the mechanism by which globalization affects poverty and inequality. This paper explores one of the various strands of the globalization–inequality–poverty nexus. Using microlevel survey data from over 300 poor households in the small village of Umuluwe (about 30 miles west of the regional capital of Owerri) in south‐east Nigeria, the paper investigates whether individuals who migrate from the village to take advantage of the urban‐biased globalization process do better than non‐migrant villagers. The paper concludes that, while the migrant villagers tend to earn slightly higher incomes than the non‐migrant villagers, the poverty profiles of both categories of households are essentially the same. In other words, and contrary to conventional wisdom, globalization has not succeeded in alleviating poverty amongst the poor villagers who explicitly took advantage of the process. The paper argues that, by changing relative prices in the urban areas, structural adjustment appears to have eliminated any advantage that globalization may have bequeathed to the migrant villagers.     

Managing urban growth in Lusaka,Zambia∗

The question of urban management is a key issue for policy makers in Africa. The objec‐tive in this paper is to analyse recent trends in the management of urban growth in Lu‐saka, Zambia. The Zambian urbanization experience is of a transition from constrained to unconstrained patterns of urbanization and of the imperative to dismantle the heritage of colonial policies. Lusaka's management performance with regard to the pro‐vision of shelter and services as well as work opportunities for an expanding population is investigated. It is argued that the experience of Lusaka underscores the urban management dilemmas of transcending the burden of past policies.     

Zambia: Structural adjustment,rural livelihoods and sustainable development

This presents, in concise form, some of the main findings of the Zambian component of a study carried out in four African countries between 1997 and 2000. A political economy approach is used to examine the interaction between segments of government, donors, the private sector, and rural communities, both historically and in recent times. It is found that the structural adjustment framework adopted in 1989 has modified the interplay of forces contending for control over natural resources, but not to the benefit of rural communities and the poor in general. Some recommendations are advanced for policy review, changes in administration, and legislative change.     

我国城市贫困群体的权利现状分析——基于阿玛蒂亚.森的权利理论

经济贫困是权利贫困的折射和表现,"交换权利"不足或恶化就会导致贫困的产生。本文运用印度经济学家阿玛蒂亚.森的理论分析中国城市贫困群体的权利现状,可以发现:除以生产为基础的权利无法获取外,以贸易为基础的权利、自己劳动的权利、继承与转移的权利都在不同程度上恶化,这是城市贫困群体出现和扩大的根本原因。从权利理论的视角反贫困,政府的工作重点应当是采取多种手段和措施改善构成"交换权利"的四种权利。     

Economic liberalisation strategies and poverty reduction across Indian states

The focus of the study is the pace of poverty reduction across Indian states and its determinants. In particular, the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and industrialisation in reducing poverty is examined. Empirical evidence shows that poverty reduction did occur during the 1990s following the implementation of India's economic liberalisation program, which included mainly industrial and FDI policy reform. The empirical analysis shows that, thus far, FDI has not contributed significantly to poverty reduction, but it did influence structural changes in the economy, particularly with respect to industry, which is an important driver of poverty reduction. The analysis clearly shows that states with dominant industrial sectors have been able to reduce poverty faster than states dominated by agriculture. It is argued that targeting of FDI in India has been misplaced. Had it been in the more labour-intensive manufacturing, it would have more effectively contributed to the reduction of poverty.     

The Contribution of the Urban Sector to Australian Economic Development Before 1914

This article examines the contribution of the urban sector to Australian economic development before the First World War. This contribution has often been seen in negative terms: contemporary observers generally thought that the major cities were to large and drained resources from the productive sectors of the economy, while some modern historians have portrayed cities as centres of poverty and environmental disamenity. The article evaluates these claims and presents a case for the urban sector having been a powerful stimulus to economic growth. The problems which Australian urbanization created did not stem from cities being too large, with more inhabitants than the number of well-paying jobs; rather, the general preference for low-density suburban living, and the ability of most of the population to be able to afford to live that way, meant that the cities would be expensive to build and difficult to service in a cost-effective way.     

Are Urban Poverty and Undernutrition Growing? Some Newly Assembled Evidence

The population of the developing world is becoming more urban. Are poverty and undernutrition beginning to relocate to urban areas as well? We use survey data on poverty (from eight countries) and on child undernutrition (from 14 countries) to address this question. Using data from the past 15–20 years we find that in a majority of countries the absolute number of poor and undernourished individuals living in urban areas has increased, as has the share of overall poverty and undernourishment coming from urban areas. Given these trends and the current stock of knowledge as to the levels, determinants and solutions to urban poverty and undernutrition, we argue for more research on these issues.     

Gains from Trade: Implications for Labour Market Adjustment and Poverty Reduction in Africa

Abstract: This paper reassesses the gains from trade for sub‐Saharan Africa, and draws their implications for labour market adjustment and poverty reduction. It reviews previous studies on multilateral liberalization, focusing on the findings from Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models with relevance to African economies. The implications of these findings for poverty reduction are discussed. Our own CGE exercise supports the hypothesis that African countries cannot expect substantial gains from further multilateral liberalization. Moreover, given the sharp contraction of import‐competing sectors in response to trade liberalization in many African economies, coupled with insufficient compensation through labour market adjustments in other sectors, this study suggests that the ultimate impact on poverty reduction is likely to be small or even negative.     

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.     

新疆少数民族地区人口、社会经济和资源环境协调发展综合评价研究——基于非少数民族地区的对比分析

将吐鲁番、阿克苏等7个少数民族人口占全疆少数民族人口80%以上的地区作为有代表性的少数民族地区。根据新疆少数民族地区的实际情况和特点,构建由4个一级指标、21个二级指标构成的人口、社会经济和资源环境评价指标体系,利用SPSS19.0进行因子分析对新疆少数民族和非少数民族地区的人口、社会经济和资源环境综合评价,用以监测新疆少数民族地区发展状态和进程。研究结果表明:与新疆非少数民族地区相比,新疆少数民族地区人口、社会经济等方面的发展程度较差,各系统内部发展很不平衡,新疆少数民族地区城乡、贫富、区域之间的差距较大。最后提出有效控制人口过快增长、减少贫困、走新型工业化道路,缩小区域经济差距,促进新疆少数民族地区人口、社会经济和资源环境协调发展的政策建议。研究中的指标体系的设计体现出新疆区域特色,从与非少数民族地区对比的角度进行分析,为全面评价新疆少数民族地区社会经济发展状况提供了新的思路。     

马克思理论视角下我国城市贫困及反贫困研究

20世纪90年代以来,中国城市贫困问题日益显现,已成为国家经济增长、社会稳定、家庭和个人全面发展的阻碍。依据马克思贫困理论的三个层面,从技术基础、表现形态和制度决定,分析转型期我国城市贫困的产生背景、社会构成和结构成因,提出了城市反贫困的途径,旨在为我国的城市贫困研究提供借鉴。     

China's poverty statistics

China's official poverty statistics show a dramatic reduction in poverty from 31% of the rural population in 1978 to 3% in 2000. We evaluate possible sources of bias in these estimates and conclude that the official statistics underestimate rural poverty and overstate the speed of poverty reduction. Direct measures of nutritional outcomes support the contention that poverty is more widespread than suggested by official statistics. Priority should be given to constructing new statistics to accurately measure urban poverty. The method for calculating county income per capita, a key policy variable affecting official poor county designation, is ad hoc and subject to political influence.     

转变规划建设思路 破解紧约束条件下的可持续发展困局

本文在分析当前深圳规划建设面临经济发展转型、资源环境瓶颈、社会矛盾日益凸显和快速城市化积累的深层次矛盾和问题等四方面困扰的基础上指出,要适应形势变化、打破四个困扰,就必须在规划建设思路上实现十个战略性转变。同时,从土地及住房、人口、经济、资源能源环境交通政策和政府治理结构等五方面全面反思了现行政策和管理体制,为十个战略性转变的实现创造条件政策和体制环境。     

Structure of Sectoral Decomposition of Aggregate Poverty Changes in Cameroon

Abstract: This paper reviews theoretical frameworks for sectoral decomposition and assesses the within‐ and between‐sector contributions to changes in aggregate poverty in Cameroon informed by the Shapley Value decomposition rule. Between 1984 and 1996 poverty remained a rural phenomenon in Cameroon. It became more widespread, deeper and severer in both rural and urban areas, but more so in urban than rural areas. While the within‐sector effects disproportionately accounted for the increase in poverty in the period 1984–96, the between‐sector contributions in both rural and semi‐urban areas played a mitigating role on the worse effects of the increase in poverty. These findings infer the potential positive feedback effects of migration such as remittances, and/or increases in rural consumption expenditure in the face of rural underemployment, as effective strategies used by migrants to lift their families and villages out of the worse effects of poverty. The implication of this interpretation is that decision‐makers need to better understand the factors that push or pull potential migrants. Rural–urban mobility could, therefore, be viewed as a strategy used by households to moderate the worse effects of poverty and a vector of shared growth. The implications for public policy, in terms of open unemployment and associated social and insecurity problems at the receiving end, point to the wisdom of addressing the push‐factors via targeting more in favour of rural areas.     

Informal retailing through home-based micro-enterprises: The role of spaza shops

The informal trade sector constitutes an important part of the South African economy, with estimated sales of R32 billion in 2002. Its emergence is largely attributed to the divergence between the growth in population, especially the urban population, and employment growth in the formal economy. Growth of informal enterprises, especially in the retail sector, is also thriving on the demand of less affluent households, whose household needs for unsophisticated and affordable products are aptly supplied by the informal sector. The aim of this article is to focus on one of the prominent sub-sectors of informal retailing, namely spaza or tuck shops, defined as small retail businesses which operate from a residential stand or home. Particular attention is paid to the size, role and characteristics of spaza trade in South Africa, which is estimated to account for nearly 3 per cent of South Africa's retail trade.