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.     

Exploring the Impact of Energy Sources on Production,Inequality and Poverty in Simultaneous Equations Models for South Africa

Abstract: This work adapts per capita income, energy demand (sub‐group decomposed), inequality and poverty frameworks in a simultaneous equations setting to investigate the role of energy sources on per capita income, inequality and poverty in South Africa. It finds that energy sources (particularly electricity and diesel) are important in estimating production functions. Gasoline, kerosene and coal all exacerbate poverty, with the highest impacts on abject poverty. It is better to disaggregate energy sources in order to capture resource‐specific details. Redistribution efforts that focus on reduction of between‐group inequality can also moderate energy use since between‐group inequality tends to increase the demand for most energy sources. Public efforts are yielding fruits in this direction and should be encouraged. Access to energy sources like electricity, diesel and gas are crucial for productivity enhancement, but for them to yield significant anti‐poverty fruits, efforts must also target broadening capital access by the poor.     

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。     

Vulnerability to poverty in China: a subjective poverty line approach

Wide arrays of econometric techniques have been proposed to assess vulnerability to poverty. All such measures attempt to determine the probability to fall (or remain) into poverty given households’ characteristics. We have used cross-section data from the Chinese Household Income Project Series and subjective poverty lines to shed light on the sources of uncertainty in China. The lack of a comprehensive pension system and distance from the markets raise vulnerability in rural areas, whereas the hukou registration system has generated a growing mass of exploited and unprotected migrants in urban areas.     

Poverty in South Africa – a statistical analysis

Poverty is one of the major challenges facing democratic South Africa. This article focuses on poverty in South Africa, using the Income and Expenditure Survey conducted in 1995 by Statistics South Africa (formerly the Central Statistical Service). In the first part, different approaches that can be followed in the measurement of poverty are discussed. In the second part, Sen's approach to the measurement of poverty and the Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) technique have been used to analyse the above data. CHAID is used to explore the relationship between the poverty status of the household (ie poor or non-poor) and other household characteristics. These variables can then be used as predictors of poverty status.     

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.     

Poverty and Other Determinants of Child Labor in Bangladesh

In this research we examine poverty and other determinants of child labor in Bangladesh. We define income quintiles as a means of measuring family poverty and add child and family characteristics to our model. We estimate the likelihood that a child will work, using separate logistic regression models for younger and older boys and girls in urban and rural areas. Our results support the notion that a family's poverty affects the probability that a child will work; keeping children away from work is a luxury these families cannot afford. Moreover, it is important to examine separate demographic groups in order to fully understand the determinants of child labor in Bangladesh since the effects of child and family variables on the probability that a child will work differ among these groups.     

后脱贫时代云南省怒江州防返贫长效机制构建研究

贫困治理是中国特色社会主义伟大实践的重要组成部分，是中国特色社会主义制度优势的集中体现，然而脱贫之后的脱贫户再次返贫问题成为“十四五”时期重要关注点。通过深入探析云南怒江州潜在的返贫主、客观原因，即从脱贫户内生动力、防返贫监测系统、政策制度、特色产业4个方面进行阐述，并提出相应的对策建议，对拓展巩固云南怒江州脱贫攻坚成果、实现乡村振兴具有重要意义。     

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.     

治边稳藏视域下援藏扶贫与西藏内源式发展研究——以西藏白朗县援藏产业扶贫调查为例

西藏作为深度贫困地区,脱贫攻坚任务艰巨。对口援藏扶贫作为一项重要的制度安排,对西藏全面小康目标的实现具有积极的作用。本文认为,援藏扶贫工作须置于习近平治边稳藏重要论述的指引之下,要以增强西藏自我发展为关键,实现西藏的内源式发展。文章在分析内源式发展理念基础上,以山东省济南市援助西藏日喀则白朗县扶贫为例,阐释了产业扶贫实现内源式发展的具体路径,并从可持续生计、体现长期性、力求科学性等方面探究援藏产业扶贫中蕴含的启示,为脱贫攻坚和乡村振兴有机衔接打下基础。     

基于外部性理论的中廖村旅游扶贫研究

旅游扶贫是解决旅游资源富集地区贫困问题的有效途径。通过实地调查与访谈，厘清了中廖村旅游扶贫现状，总结了扶贫工作的已有成效，认为尚有部分村民没有实现真脱贫。然后，立足于外部性理论探究当地旅游扶贫中的外部影响，发现旅游扶贫有助于增加居民收入、改善生活环境，但是也会增加社会治理成本、产生交通问题，甚至引发公地悲剧。因此，认为可以从政府主导、经济调节、公众参与三个方面来降低负外部性。     

A multidimensional analysis of poverty in China from 1991 to 2006

Most studies have reported non negligible improvements for China in terms of poverty during the last three decades. However, this result is potentially hampered by two limitations. First, it may be contingent to the specific choices made regarding the poverty line and the poverty indices used for the analysis. As a consequence, it may collapse if one uses alternative poverty lines or poverty measures. Second, it results from a focus on the sole monetary aspects of poverty. As income does not cover all facets of well-being and since the relationship between these two concepts are quite fuzzy, it may be worth using a broader view of well-being, hence opting for a multidimensional approach of poverty analysis. In the present paper, these two issues are addressed using multidimensional stochastic dominance procedures on the joint distribution of income, education and health in seven Chinese provinces.     

Some methods of poverty analysis: An application to Iranian data, 1975–1976

Most analyses of poverty in developing countries are based on the so-called poverty incidence, i.e. the proportion of poor households in the total household population. This paper provides estimates of poverty in Iran which are more detailed in two respects: first, it estimates the number of poor based on poverty lines for households of different sizes and second, it estimates the extent of poverty with the so-called poverty gaps. Both aspects of poverty are incorporated in the Sen index, which is also estimated. On the basis of these estimates a poverty map for Iran is drawn up. It shows that poverty diminished substantially between 1971 and 1975 and that poverty is most concentrated in the regions of Khorasan and Sistan & Baluchistan.     

减少农村贫困,缩小贫富差距

社会和谐是中国特色社会主义的本质属性。农村贫困人口的存在,既遏制了贫困地区经济社会的发展,也拉大了贫富差距和城乡差距,对构建和谐社会是一个极大的障碍。现阶段,我国农村贫困出现了一些新的特征。根据新情况,反贫困措施主要有:一是通过教育和培训,提高贫困人口的质量、增强他们自我发展的能力;二是实现开发式扶贫和救助式扶贫并重;三充分发挥经济政策对消除贫困的作用;四是改变国家扶贫资金的瞄准机制,改革扶贫资金管理体制。     

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。     

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.     

‘Growing’ social protection in developing countries: Lessons from Brazil and South Africa

The rapid expansion of social protection in the South provides a rich diversity of experiences and lessons on how best to reduce poverty and ultimately eradicate it. Knowledge on how best to ‘grow’ social assistance, understood as long-term institutions responsible for reducing and preventing poverty, is at a premium. This article examines the expansion of social assistance in Brazil and South Africa, two of the middle income countries widely perceived to have advanced furthest in ‘growing’ social protection. It examines three aspects: the primacy of politics in explaining the expansion of social protection and assistance, the tensions between path-dependence and innovation in terms of institutions and practices, and the poverty and inequality outcomes of social assistance expansion. The article concludes by drawing the main lessons for other developing countries.     

How social security policies and economic transformation affect poverty and inequality: Lessons for South Africa

This article examines how various characteristics of social and economic policy frameworks affect poverty and inequality levels in developing countries, principally in Botswana and Mauritius. The research findings suggest that poverty and inequality are lower in countries with generous and broad-based – rather than pro-poor – social security policies, and where social policies are complemented by economic policies promoting economic transformation rather than mere economic growth. While South Africa's challenges of combating poverty and inequality are shaped by its own historical context, the lessons from other countries offer the opportunity to reflect on the social consequences of various social and economic policy mixtures. In particular, it may be worth considering how to bridge the divide between the economically productive contributors to social security policies and the economically marginalised beneficiaries of such policies.     

A new view of the breakthrough in the Finnish sawmilling industry

Abstract

This paper investigates the development of poverty in Sweden using micro data derived from tax files for the city of Göteborg for the years 1925, 1936, 1947 and 1958, as well as more recent (1983, 1994 and 2003) information. We define poverty as living in a household with a disposable income lower than a poverty line that represents a constant purchasing power all years, as well as poverty lines defined as 60% of contemporary median income. Clear reductions of poverty from 1925 to 1947, as well as from 1958 to 1983, are found. We argue that an important poverty-reducing mechanism during both periods was narrowing earnings disparities. Further, we claim that the poverty reduction from the end of the 1950s to the first half of the 1980s was the outcome of improved transfer systems as well as the establishment of pronounced characteristics of present-day Sweden: the dual earner system.