Urban–Rural Differences in Costs of Living and Their Impact on Poverty Measures

This note demonstrates empirically the importance of urban-rural price differences and inflation figures in poverty analysis. Using data from the National Socio-Economic Survey (Survei Sosial Ekonomi Nasional, widely known as Susenas), it shows that the urban-rural food price differential during the period 1987–96 was 13–16%, not 28–52% as impli by the ‘official’ food poverty lines. The urban–rural poverty comparisons and the components of change in simulated poverty estimates presented here therefore differ from those based on the ‘official’ figures. They indicate that migration to urban areas between 1987 and 1996 accounts for a significant part of the observed decline in poverty. The paper concludes that it is essential to use accurate urban–rural cost of living differences in deriving aggregate, urban and rural poverty estimates.     

First steps in the desegregation of South African towns and cities, 1991–6

South African towns and cities have begun the process of residential desegregation after the apartheid era. This article analyses the detailed enumeration tract results of the 1996 census to assess the extent to which this process has progressed. The resultant indices of intergroup dissimilarity suggest that the urban areas are still exceptionally highly segregated, indeed 'hypersegregated'. Furthermore, spatial desegregation is both group and place specific. Whites have desegregated more slowly than other groups, and integration between Africans and whites is extremely limited. Although there are some variations between places, the heritage of country-wide enforcement of urban apartheid has eliminated most regional differences. Nevertheless, segregation levels were usually significantly lower in KwaZulu-Natal than the other provinces. Furthermore, the national and provincial capitals do emerge as significant centres of desegregation.     

Children’s Work in Nigeria: Exploring the Implications of Gender, Urban–Rural Residence, and Household Socioeconomic Status

Child labor in developing countries continues to be a topic of policy and academic concern, particularly in Africa where there are more working children than in any other region. Scholarly attention has been drawn in part to gender, place of residence, and socioeconomic status as factors that shape the type of work that children perform and whether it impacts educational attainment. I explore these issues in the context of Nigeria through analysis of data from the 2004 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey EdData Survey. A series of logistic regression models of child labor confirm the existence of gender and, especially, socioeconomic disparities in children??s work. The data also indicate that girls and rural children face a double risk of working if they belong to poor households. A policy implication is that poverty alleviation programs??such as Mexico??s Oportunidades program (the erstwhile PROGRESA)??may help to reduce those forms of child labor that interfere with schooling. That this program has been found to more beneficial for girls suggests it may be particularly appropriate for Nigeria where gender disparities persist.     

The Development of Inequality and Poverty in Indonesia, 1932–2008

We estimate inequality in Indonesia between 1932 and 2008. Inequality increased at the start of this period but declined sharply from the 1960s onwards. The increase was due to a shift from domestic to export agriculture over the period up to the Great Depression. During the 1930s, as the price of export crops declined, the income of rich farmers suffered a blow. Yet this was counterbalanced by an increasing gap between expenditures in the urban and rural sectors, causing an overall rise in inequality. As for the second half of the century, we find that the employment shift towards manufacturing and services—combined with an increase in labour productivity in agriculture—accounts for inequality’s decline, which was halted in the 1990s. These inequality trends affected poverty as well, but prior to the 1940s the negative impact of the rise in inequality was offset by an increase in per capita GDP. Between 1950 and 1980 a decline in inequality, combined with increased per capita GDP, rapidly raised a large portion of the population above the poverty line.     

South African strategic minerals and U.S. foreign policy, 1961–1968

Conclusion The proceeding empirical data and analysis lend support to the central thesis of this work. Contrary to traditional scholarly opinion, South African mineral production, especially of chromite and platinum group metals, was indispensable to the American economy and military industrial complex. Economic dependency thus provides the key to understanding Washington’s pro-apartheid policy during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.     

Is there a trade-off between the employment and wages of unskilled African South Africans?

The possible trade-off between employment and wages has characterised most of South Africa’s labour market debates, particularly with regards to decent wages versus unemployment. In this article we explore the relationship between labour market earnings and the level of employment among African birth cohorts using labour force data from 1997 to 2011. We find that the association between an increase in the proportion of unskilled employed in a birth cohort and earnings is mediated by the sector of employment. While some sectors exhibit the expected negative association, there is a robust positive relationship between the first two quartiles of the earnings distribution within birth cohorts and the proportion of the birth cohort who are employed in unskilled occupations in the manufacturing and trade sectors. Because a range of market forces determine this relationship, further research is needed to unpack the reasons for such varied outcomes in order to better inform the debates on labour market interventions like the proposed National Minimum Wage and to appreciate the potential impact of such policy interventions on wages and employment.     

Poverty in Indonesia 1984–2002: the impact of growth and changes in inequality

This paper examines the growth elasticity of poverty across three development episodes in Indonesia between 1984 and 2002, after controlling for inequality. It relies on estimation of panel data from the National Socio-Economic Survey conducted by the central statistics agency. Contrary to expectations, the growth elasticity of poverty was virtually indistinguishable across the three development episodes – a period of far-reaching policy liberalisation (1984–90); a second period of slower liberalisation (1990–96); and the period of recovery from the Asian financial crisis (1999–2002). Growth was pro-poor in all three periods, while the impact of growth on poverty was either augmented or offset by changes in inequality, depending on the period. Only during the first liberalisation period did a reduction in inequality serve to augment the impact of growth on poverty.