Dynamics of Child Malnutrition in Rural and Small‐Town Ethiopia

Improving the status of malnourished children, and preventing children from becoming malnourished, lies at the heart of several of the Sustainable Development Goals. While many cross‐sectional studies examine correlates of stunting, they largely cannot identify drivers of change in stunting. We use two waves of panel data from Ethiopia and incrementally larger sets of fixed effects to control for time‐variant observable characteristics and time‐invariant unobservable characteristics. After controlling for these potential confounders, our analysis reveals that many factors that are associated with stunting in the cross‐section do not impact stunting dynamics. We also estimate individual fixed‐effects regressions, separately, according to baseline stunting status. We find evidence suggesting that while improved societal conditions drive many children out of a stunted state, certain exogenous factors may lead previously healthy children to become stunted. Overall, policymakers and practitioners would be wise to consult research utilising both cross‐sectional and panel data analyses in order to more effectively target already stunted children as well as vulnerable children who may be at risk of becoming stunted.     

China's War on Poverty: Assessing Targeting and the Growth Impacts of Poverty Programs

In this paper, we attempt to assess the effectiveness of China's Poverty Alleviation Programs in contributing to economic growth in poor areas. To meet this overall goal, we briefly describe China's poor area policy and examine how its leaders have implemented one of the developing world's largest poverty alleviation programs. Second, we examine whether or not the poverty programs have been implemented in the parts of China that are truly poor. Finally, we attempt to assess if the poverty programs have affected growth. The major findings are that China's poverty programs do get implemented in areas of the nation that are poor, but there are many poor areas that have been left out of the government's various programs. We also find that poverty programs contribute to economic growth and that economic growth promotes poverty reduction.     

农村贫困线的测度与优化

贫困测度是监测贫困状态和制定反贫困政策和战略的重要依据.农村是我国反贫困的主战场,如何准确地界定贫困村,特别是如何科学地确定贫困线,是全面描述和正确评估农村贫困的现状和脱贫进程,及时把握扶贫政策对缓解农村贫困的实际效果的关键,并成为当今理论研究和反贫困实践的热点.文章对贫困线的构成要素、测定方法、演变过程和调整方法作了初步的探讨.     

Rural Labor Migration and Poverty Reduction in China

Using various sources of data, this paper examines the contributions of rural labor migration to economic growth and poverty reduction in China. The results show that there is still a significant number of people living in poverty in rural areas, while the effectiveness of migration on poverty reduction has declined, implying an urgent need for new approaches to poverty reduction. China's experiences could also be valuable for the formulation of development strategies in other developing countries.     

Dynamics of Growth,Poverty and Inequality: A Panel Analysis of Regional Data from Thailand and the Philippines*

Using panel data for provinces compiled from household expenditure microdata, the present paper empirically investigates the relationships among growth, poverty and inequality in Thailand and the Philippines. The empirical model avoids the potential bias due to the fact that the entire distribution of individual‐level consumption changes over time and empirical variables for growth, poverty and inequality are often compiled from the consumption distribution. The system generalized method of moments estimation results strongly suggest that inequality reduced the growth rate of per‐capita consumption, and that differences in inequality explain a substantial portion of the Philippine–Thai difference in growth and poverty reduction since the late 1980s.     

我国现行农村贫困标准的完善

进入新世纪,我国农村挟贫效益呈现出递减态势,其原因固然众多,但农村贫困标准的缺陷应是首当其冲,因为贫困标准是监测贫困状态、制定反贫困政策的重要理论依据和行动指南。文章从贫困标准的总体水平、内部构成、动态化、多样化、国际化等方面对我国当前农村贫困标准的缺陷与完善进行了全面探讨。