RURAL POVERTY, URBAN POVERTY, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Data from the National Survey of Families and Households are used to compare the psychological well-being of the rural and urban poor. Overall, the urban poor are higher in perceived health than the rural poor, although no differences are apparent in happiness or depression. Significant interactions are present between rural/urban poverty and sex, race, and family status. The psychological well-being of poor African Americans is higher in rural than urban areas, whereas the well-being of poor whites is higher in urban than rural areas. This trend is especially pronounced for depression among males. In addition, single men without children have especially high depression scores in rural areas, whereas married women without children have especially low depression scores in urban areas. The results are interpreted in terms of the environmental quality of inner-city neighborhoods and attitudes toward poverty in urban and rural communities.     

LOOKING FOR “MR. RIGHT”: THE VIABILITY OF MARRIAGE INITIATIVES FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN RURAL SETTINGS

Newly-funded initiatives aim to promote marriage among low-income African American women to reduce poverty and welfare dependency. Research indicates that these women have a strong desire to marry, but lack economically secure marriage partners. This research predominantly focuses on urban populations, and little is known about marriage as a strategy to end poverty and welfare dependency among the rural poor. Two case study counties in rural Mississippi were selected to examine if marriage promotion initiatives are a viable strategy for poor rural African American single mothers. Data were collected through semistructured interviews using a life history calendar procedure. The results show that, like their urban counterparts, poor rural single mothers are rarely able to find their “Mr. Right” because of their personal and contextual characteristics.     

Amerindian Livelihoods,Outside Interventions,and Poverty Traps in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Recent efforts to explain the persistence of rural poverty have made frequent use of the concept of poverty traps, understood as self‐reinforcing poverty. The dynamic dimension of the poverty trap concept makes it a potentially useful tool for understanding conditions of persistent poverty, especially in circumstances where outside interventions “shock” the system with the intention of ending poverty and disadvantage. This article describes one such effort among a populous group of lowland Amerindians, the Shuar of Ecuador's Amazon region. Three small household surveys conducted at different times during the last 25 years suggest that the Shuar, despite having obtained access to land through a combination of their own efforts and outside interventions, have become enmeshed in a natural‐resource‐degrading poverty trap. Mestizos with land in the same region avoided this trap only by emigrating in large numbers. Secure access to land did not prevent the emergence of a poverty trap among the Shuar in large part because smallholders in Latin America faced difficult macrosociological and ecological conditions during the last decades of the twentieth century.     

Resources,Not Capital: A Case Study of the Gendered Distribution and Productivity of Social Network Ties in Rural Ethiopia*

Abstract Poor people make use of a variety of contextually relevant resources to pursue their livelihood strategies, and there is wide empirical evidence that opportunities and contraints for accessing these may vary considerably for women and men, particularly in the rural areas of developing countries. In this article, micro-evidence from a case study from a village in rural Ethiopia is used to analyze the role that gender plays in the distribution and productivity of social network ties. In the examined case, women and men have access to different social networks: women have access to bonded or relational social resources which can yield economic returns only if and when they are bridged, linked to, and associated with men and their networks. This is a result of the prevailing social structure in which men define social norms and implement these through locally available institutions, combined with women's time poverty. Consequently, for rural development interventions to be successful in building and strengthening women's social network ties, adequate attention needs to be paid to mechanisms that make sure that links and connections are in place as well.     

Women,Poverty, and the Microenterprise: Context and Discourse

The article discusses the claims of success of microenterprise development programmes (MDPs) in poverty reduction and gender equality. It also deals with the broader theoretical and methodological issues related to the ways in which context and discourse interact in the assessment of anti‐poverty and gender equity strategies. MDPs are considered among the most viable strategies for helping women overcome poverty and promoting gender equity. However, there has been significant debate over these claims. The relationship between business ownership, poverty reduction and gender empowerment is still to be proved. The article presents the voices of women engaged in a microenterprise (ME) from a context‐informed and discourse analysis perspective, and considers the women's insights about ME as an anti‐poverty and gender empowerment strategy. The findings show a complex picture. On one hand, the new occupational status promises a tangible alternative to multiple personal, social and gender constraints. Additionally, women in the study perceived the ME as a space for self‐definition and as an outlet for expressing their oppressed identities. On the other hand, the findings seriously challenge the capacity of the MDP strategy to promote gender equity and combat poverty among low‐income women. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

Migration,Small Farming and Food Security in the Caribbean: Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Long‐term and short‐term (seasonal) migrations from Caribbean countries have been strategies for enhancing the livelihoods and assets of individuals and families for many decades. The greatest challenges to food security are felt by the populations below the poverty level, most of whom are rural dwellers. Taking two Caribbean countries – Jamaica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, this article assesses whether in rural, characteristically small‐farming areas, the financial and social remittances resulting from migration are used to improve food security, through either supporting agricultural production or providing money to purchase food. The findings show the contrast between Jamaica and St. Vincent. Whereas migration generally benefits small‐scale farming and domestic food production, increasing food accessibility in Jamaica, migration has been variously used by the rural poor in St. Vincent to replace farming. Food security in St. Vincent is heavily dependent on purchasing food and, in this regard, migrant remittances play an important role.     

A GENDERED CONTEXT OF OPPORTUNITY:

Current research has failed to examine how women's opportunities in the labor market, in combination with their human capital attributes, differentially affect the likelihood that they will live in poverty. This study overcomes this limitation by placing specific emphasis on the role that labor market opportunities play in contributing to, or reducing, women's and men's risk of poverty. In addition, differences in poverty risk by urban and rural labor market areas are examined, as labor market dynamics vary substantially by rurality. Using the PUMS-L and STF3C for 1990, logistic regression techniques are employed to address these issues. Our results indicate that women across all labor market contexts have a significantly higher risk of poverty than men, and incorporation of labor market characteristics fails to explain this higher risk. However, the economic opportunities available in the labor market play an important role in determining how an individual's credentials, family background, and work experience translate into poverty risk. While individual attributes play a smaller role in explaining rural women's likelihood of living in poverty, women in both urban and rural labor markets face more limited economic opportunities than their male counterparts. This suggests that a "gendered" context of opportunity remains a barrier for women's movement out of poverty in both urban and rural labor markets.     

Breaking down rural and urban bias and interrogating spatial inequality,evidence from South Africa

This article investigates current socioeconomic disparities within rural and urban areas. The empirical analysis is grounded in an examination of urban and rural bias theories, which have often underpinned poverty analysis. This article suggests that poverty analysis can be improved by moving beyond the rural–urban binary and investigating differences across all geographical types (when data are available). Using 2012 household survey data on South Africa, the article sheds lights on substantial differences—in household composition and access to services and assets—that are likely to make households located in particular geotypes far more vulnerable to poverty. Finally, the article discusses how development policy can better address the specific income‐generating constraints that disadvantaged areas face.     

Rural brewing,exclusion, and development policy-making

This article highlights the economic role of women in the brewing industry in rural and periurban areas of sub-Saharan African countries. Local beer drinking is a form of social exchange and a reward for time-intensive work. Modern beer brewing in rural areas is a family operation. Beer is produced for subsistence and for sale. Locally brewed beer has a lower alcohol content than commercial brews. The author refers to Pradervand's (1990) study of local brewing in five east and west African countries. Pradervand found that men spent an estimated CFAF 18 billion per year on local brews compared to the value of total national exports of CFAF 21 billion per year in 1996. The male Kitui in rural Kenya were found to spend 60% of their weekly income on beer. Women dominate brewing in eastern and southern Africa. Rural beers are grain based (maize, millet, or sorghum), but may also be made from bananas, bamboo, sugar cane, or coconut. An estimated 25% of women in a village survey in Tanzania reported that beer was brewed one to four times a month. Another survey in the 1980s found that 73% of women brewed beer at some time. Beer brewing is a very significant economic activity for rural women. It provides higher levels of income and employment. Urban brewing by women has a negative image that rural women's beer brewing does not have. Grain for brewing comes from family farms or markets. Women's clubs are used as income generation groups for loans and as support groups. Women's beer brewing is not supported by development interventions or recognized by UN agencies. There are resource implications due to an estimated 5%-30% of annual wood consumption used for beer brewing. If women's role in beer brewing is ignored, male-dominated commercial interests will further marginalize rural women.     

Changing Economic Opportunities,Family Structure,and Poverty in Rural Areas1

Abstract Instrustrial restructuring in the 1980s ushered in a new pattern of growing economic diversity over geographic space. The objective of this study is to examine the extent and etiology of changing spatial inequality between and within metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas, as measured by increasing or decreasing county poverty rates. Results based on data from the 1980 and 1990 census summary tape files suggest several conclusions. First, poverty rates increased more rapidly in nonmetro than metro counties during the 1980s; historical patterns of metro-nonmetro economic convergence slowed over the past decade. Second, poverty rates tended to decline in nonmetro counties with traditionally high rates of poverty, thus providing counter-evidence to arguments suggesting that the gap between traditionally poor and nonpoor nonmetro counties has widened. Third, spatial differences in poverty rates and relative increases in county poverty rates over the 1980s were most strongly associated with women's employment and headship status. The results raise questions about the extent to which traditional rural economic development strategies address the potentially deleterious economic effects of rising percentages of poor female-headed families.     

The Effect of Housework on Wages: A Study of Migrants and Native-Born Individuals in Germany

To increase labour market participation among migrants, an increase in female labour market participation is important, with wages being a significant incentive. In research on the gender wage gap, the consideration of housework has been a milestone. Gender differences in housework time have always been much greater among migrants than among native-born individuals. Based on data obtained from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1995 to 2017, this study questioned whether housework affects the wages of migrant full-time workers differently than those of their native-born counterparts. To consider the possible endogeneity of housework in the wage equation, the analysis estimated, in addition to an OLS model, a hybrid model to estimate within effects. Significant negative effects of housework on wages resulted for migrant women and native-born individuals. The effects for migrant men were significantly smaller or insignificant, which could not be explained by threshold effects. The greater amount of time spent on housework by migrant women than by native-born women will in general lead to a larger wage decrease due to housework for migrant women than for native-born women. The results further showed that the observed variables explained very little of the migrants’ gender wage gap, in contrast to the gap of native-born individuals. Human capital returns, including education and work experiences, were much lower for migrant women than for native-born women, whereas differences in housework equally contributed to the explained share of the gap for both groups, indicating the greater relevance of housework for migrants’ wage gap.

     

Family formation: A positive outcome for vulnerable young women?

While marriage and childbirth are generally considered positive adult outcomes, it is not clear that this holds true among low income young women. Beyond adolescent parenting, little empirical data exists on various types of family formation in this population. The aims of this study were twofold: (1) to understand predictors of type of family formation (e.g., none, childrearing, marriage, or both) among 4385 young women with childhood histories of poverty and/or maltreatment; and (2) to explore whether family formation patterns were associated with negative adult behavioral and health outcomes. Results of the AIM 1 multinomial regression analysis of family formation indicated that the likelihood of childrearing with or without marriage increased with an increase in the number of adolescent risk behaviors after controlling for the maltreatment and/or poverty histories. Among women with maltreatment histories, early onset maltreatment was associated with childrearing or marriage compared to no family. Among previously maltreated women, predictors of family formation varied according to prior poverty history. AIM 2 Cox regression results indicated that having children with or without marriage was associated with a higher risk of negative outcomes after controlling for maltreatment and adolescent risk factors. Bivariate analyses suggested that most of the increased risk was associated with having at least two children. Findings underscore the importance of preventing adolescent risk behaviors among low income and maltreated girls as well as early and unplanned births among vulnerable young adult women.     

Farming Patterns,Rural Restructuring,and Poverty: A Comparative Regional Analysis1

Abstract This study examines the contentions of two recent perspectives on rural economic organization and their implications for poverty. Building from (1) agrarian political economy and (2) the rural restructuring literatures, we present a comparative regional analysis of how farming patterns and other aspects of economic organization differentially affect poverty in rural areas. Data are based on 2,349 nonmetropolitan U.S. counties for the 1970–1980 period. Nonhired labor-dependent, family-operated farming (smaller and larger family farming) has relatively similar cross-regional effects on rural poverty. The effects of industrialized farming are more spatially variant, suggesting that this type of farming is integrated into regional political economies in different ways than are simple commodity units. However, farming patterns have only a small effect on rural poverty relative to other factors, such as the local employment structure, characteristics of the population, and geographic location. The results of this study highlight the need to move beyond the farm sector to understand both the dynamics of this sector and the socioeconomic consequences of rural restructuring. More broadly, the study underscores the importance of testing general sociological relationships under different spatial (e.g., regional) contexts.     

Sequential procedures for poverty gap dominance

Poverty evaluations differ from welfare evaluations in one significant aspect, the existence of a threshold or reference point, the poverty line. We build up normative evaluation models in which comparisons are made taking distances from this reference point rather than from the origin to be ethically relevant, by focussing upon poverty gaps and not incomes. When poverty lines differ for different groups in a socially heterogeneous population, choosing poverty gaps instead of incomes as the relevant indicator brings in normatively appealing classes of poverty indices not previously accommodated, for which poverty comparisons are implemented through sequential poverty gap curves (or poverty gap distributions) dominance. These conditions are logically related to those suggested by Atkinson and Bourguignon (Arrow and the foundations of the theory of economic policy, Macmillan, London, 1987) and Bourguignon (J Econom 42:67–80, 1989) for welfare comparisons. However, the proportion of poor individuals in the society and their average poverty gap play a role in our comparisons, though they do not in the existing poverty dominance criteria for heterogeneous populations.     

Poverty,social disadvantage,and the black/white placement gap

In this paper, we examine whether county-level measures of poverty and social disadvantage are correlated with county-level variation in the black/white foster care placement gap. The black/white placement gap refers to the fact that when the rate of placement into foster care for black children is compared to the rate for white children living in the same area, the black placement rate is almost always higher than the rate for whites. Although differential exposure to poverty is often used to explain why the placement gap is so large, the problem has rarely been studied. Using Poisson event count models, we find that poverty, measured at the county ecological level, is associated with a narrower gap rather than a wider gap. The counterintuitive finding is due to the fact that the relationship between poverty and placement rates depends on race.     

A multidimensional child poverty index in China

This paper analyses the multidimensional child poverty status and its dynamic changes in China from 1989 to 2009 using the China Health and Nutrition survey data. Built on the Alkire–Foster methodology, the adjusted child poverty headcount ratio is calculated which measures not only the traditional headcount ratio of child poverty but also the average deprivation intensity among poor children. The overall poverty rates declined over years from 1989 to 2009 in national wide and among provinces, where the key driver was the reduction of the poverty headcount ratio. With the property of decomposition for the adjusted headcount ratio, this study also examines the provincial and regional contribution to the national poverty reduction. Provinces in the middle region of China received the biggest reduction of child poverty rate, and the regional gap of child poverty has been narrowed down, but more effort of poverty reduction should be made to the poorest provinces and rural areas.     

Barriers to employment: voices of physically disabled rural women in Thailand

Employment is an essential activity that can generate income for people with disabilities, but very little is known about the interplay between disabled women, family and paid jobs. This article, therefore, sets forth a qualitative method for examining barriers that affect the employment opportunities of physically disabled women. Findings drawn from face-to-face interviews with 20 physically disabled women who live in rural poverty in Thailand clearly indicate that physical barriers from built environment, personal limitations; attitudinal barriers from the non-disabled community, especially employers; and over-protection from families limit their employment opportunities. Despite showing their interests in the labour market, these women are still left behind and trapped in rural poverty. The author argues that this situation is due to the non-disabled community ignoring the potential of these women. The author also recommends that the government of Thailand, NGOs and disability organisations should introduce strong tailored interventions and a multifaceted approach to address the medical, social and legal aspects of restricted participation in the labour market in order to improve the employment prospects of women with physical disabilities.     

Inheritance,poverty, and disability

Inheritance is a significant means of transferring wealth from one generation to the next, and therefore increasingly attracts attention from researchers and policy-makers working on intergenerational and multidimensional poverty. However, until now disabled persons have been overlooked in these discussions. This oversight is particularly unfortunate because, as a group, the estimated one billion people with disabilities (some 15% of the world’s population) are among the poorest and most marginalized of the global population. Over the past decade, a small but growing literature has examined the recursive connections between poverty and disability throughout the developing world. In this paper, we argue that disabled individuals are routinely denied inheritance rights in many low-income and middle-income countries, and that this is a significant and largely unrecognized contributor to their indigence. The denial of inheritance is both a social justice issue and a practice that can no longer be overlooked if disabled persons are to be brought into the development mainstream.     

Poverty Reduction and Growth Interactions: What Can Be Learned from the Syrian Experience?

The aim of this article is to analyse in depth the interactions of growth and poverty in Syria, which undertook reforms to reduce the government's involvement in the economy. During the 1996–2004 period, growth was pro‐poor in ‘weak absolute’ terms but not in either relative or ‘strong absolute’ terms, owing to the increase in inequality. This can be explained partly by tax policies, but also by an unequal distribution of investment at the regional level. There was also a widening of the gap between urban and rural areas, mainly owing to a pattern of growth in which oil played an increasing role and agriculture a decreasing one. Agricultural and land‐policy reforms could have had a negative impact on poverty, despite their positive effect on productivity.     

Poverty Catchments: Migration,Residential Mobility,and Population Turnover in Impoverished Rural Illinois Communities

Abstract Research has thoroughly documented how out‐migration of the educated and skilled from rural areas leaves behind a poorer population and creates pockets of rural poverty. Recently, studies have recognized that the poor are also geographically mobile and that poverty migration patterns can reinforce rural poverty concentrations. In this process, certain impoverished rural communities in economically depressed regions receive a disproportionate share of poverty migrants, concentrating poverty in certain locations. This paper examines the conditions and processes through which poor rural communities become likely destinations for a highly mobile segment of the rural poor and near‐poor. Utilizing case studies of depressed rural Illinois communities, it investigates how the interplay of community factors and the behavior of migrants transforms rural communities from residentially stable to highly mobile, impoverished places.