Distributional Effects of FDI: How the Interaction of FDI and Economic Policy Affects Poor Households in Bolivia

This article provides a CGE analysis of the medium to long‐run impact of FDI inflows on poverty and income distribution in Bolivia. The simulation results suggest that FDI inflows enhance economic growth and reduce poverty. However, the income distribution typically becomes more unequal. In particular, FDI widens disparities between urban and rural areas. The Bolivian government may promote the growth‐enhancing and poverty‐alleviating effects by overcoming labour‐market segmentation and providing complementary public investment in infrastructure. But simulated policy reforms or alternative productivity scenarios are hardly effective in reducing the economic divide.     

Explaining heterogeneity in the child poverty rate among immigrant families: Differences by parental citizenship

Much of the debate about child poverty among immigrant families has centered on factors that place immigrant children at a high risk for poverty. What is missing in this debate and the literature is that children in immigrant families are economically heterogeneous and that children in naturalized families are doing as well as or better than children in native families in terms of economic status. To examine the heterogeneous economic status of children in immigrant families, this study compared children's poverty rates by parental nativity and citizenship status, decomposing demographic risk factors of child poverty. The results indicate that whereas lower parental education and employment status largely explain the relatively higher poverty rate among children in noncitizen families, higher parental education and employment rates and a lower rate of single parenthood explain why children in naturalized families have a lower rate of poverty than those in noncitizen families. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.     

The Dynamics of Income Growth and Poverty: Evidence from Districts in India

This article examines the dynamics of the income‐distribution pattern in India during the post‐1991 economic reforms. It considers district‐level per‐capita income data across agriculture, manufacturing, services, and various constituent sub‐sectors, and finds evidence in favour of a uniform process of growth across sectors and regions, which has helped to reduce poverty. In particular, the article finds that growth in agricultural income and access to finance are important for this.     

Histories of poverty and self-rated health trajectories

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between poverty histories and self-rated health trajectories. We are interested in patterns of change in individuals' health over time and the ways in which such patterns are structured by continuity and change in poverty experiences. Data, collected for adults aged 25 and older in 1984 (N = 7,258), are from the 1968-1996 annual waves of Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Individual growth curves allow us to investigate health trajectories as continuous processes, as well as individual and group heterogeneity in these trajectories. We find that, on average, health deteriorates slowly over time, but there is significant variation in health in 1984 and the rate at which health declines. Histories of poverty partly accounted for the sources of individual differences in self-rated health in 1984, but they were not related to health change over time. Although increasing incomes were better for self-rated health than falling incomes, current economic circumstances did not erase the health effects of earlier poverty experiences.     

Immigrants and ‘New Poverty’: The Case of Canada1

Studies of the economic status of recent immigrants to the United States have questioned the generalizability of some earlier findings based on assimilation theory. In Canada, however, little research has been done on this issue, and that has left mixed results. The present study attempts to address the economic performance of immigrants in Canada through an examination of their poverty status. This is particularly important now because, since the late 1980s, many industrial nations including Canada have been subjected to an unexpected surge of poverty known as ‘new poverty.’ The findings indicate that immigrants in Canada are consistently overrepresented among the poor; that their poverty rates are particularly high in larger cities, which have larger concentrations of immigrants; and that among immigrants, the poverty rates are higher for visible minorities, who are mostly recent immigrants. One particularly surprising finding was that the second‐generation immigrants, who were expected to outperform their parents, had higher poverty rates. A series of logistic regression models are developed to shed some light on the possible reasons behind these trends. Of the three sets of potential contributors – human capital, assimilation and structural factors – the first two were found more relevant. The models also revealed that the human capital factors were less rewarding for immigrants than natives.     

Pathways to poverty reduction

Of the myriad approaches to reducing poverty, which have proved effective on a national scale? This article analyses 15 systematically selected national cases of demonstrated rapid poverty reduction, seeking insights into effective approaches to reducing poverty. From these 15 economies, in which the bottom quintile experienced an annual increase in income of at least 6% over at least a decade, emerge four poverty‐reduction pathways: (1) industrialisation, (2) rural development, (3) social welfare and (4) petroleum‐generated employment. In addition to helping us understand what policy approaches have actually helped reduce poverty, this article has implications for the understanding of economic growth, the impact of pro‐growth policies, the relationship between state and market, and the roles of non‐government organisations (NGOs) and civil society.     

Finance-growth-poverty nexus in South Africa: A dynamic causality linkage

This paper attempts to examine the dynamic causal relationship between financial development, economic growth and poverty reduction in South Africa—using a trivariate causality model. The study attempts to answer one critical question. Which sector leads in the process of poverty reduction in South Africa—the financial sector or real sector? Using cointegration and error-correction models, the empirical results of the study show that both financial development and economic growth Granger—cause poverty reduction in South Africa. The study also finds that economic growth Granger-causes financial development and, therefore, leads in the process of poverty reduction in South Africa. This applies irrespective of whether the causality test is conducted in the short-run or in the long-run. The study, therefore, recommends that policies geared towards increasing economic growth should be intensified in South Africa in order to make the economy more monetised, and to reduce the high level of poverty currently prevailing in the country.     

Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction by Region: Chile 1990‐96

This article examines the evolution of poverty in Chile during 1990‐96, a period of rapid economic growth. It shows that Chile has embarked on a significant poverty‐reduction trajectory. The robustness of this result is examined by using nonparametric estimates of the income distribution and a stochastic dominance test. Growth is an important factor in explaining the poverty reduction that has occurred. Using the Datt‐Ravallion decomposition, it accounts for over 85% of poverty reduction at the national level. However, the pattern varies significantly across regions. Both growth, and its contribution to poverty reduction, vary significantly among regions. This seems to reflect the sectoral composition of growth across regions, with export‐oriented activities producing a larger poverty‐reduction impact.     

Moving Up in Rural America: Economic Attainment of Nonmetro Latino Immigrants

Rapid Hispanic population growth represents a pronounced demographic transformation in many nonmetropolitan counties, particularly since 1990. Its considerable public policy implications stem largely from high proportions of new foreign‐born residents. Despite the pressing need for information on new immigrants in nonmetro counties and a bourgeoning scholarship on new rural destinations, few quantitative analyses have measured systematically the social and economic well‐being of Latino immigrants. This study analyzes the importance of place for economic well‐being, an important public policy issue related to rural Hispanic population growth. We consider four measures of economic mobility: full‐time, year‐round employment; home ownership; poverty status; and income exceeding the median national income. We conduct this analysis for 2000 and 2006–2007 to capture two salient periods of nonmetro Hispanic population growth, using a typology that distinguishes among nonmetropolitan areas by the categories of “traditional” immigrant destinations concentrated in the Southwest and Northwest, “new” immigrant destinations to capture recent and rapid Hispanic population growth in the Midwest and Southeast, and “all other” rural destinations as a reference category representing more typical nonmetro population trends. We also compare our results to those for metropolitan destinations. We find that place type matters little for stable employment but more so for wealth accumulation and income security and mobility. Compared with urban Latino immigrants, rural Latino immigrants exhibit higher rates of homeownership as well as greater likelihoods of falling into poverty and lower likelihoods of earning a measure of U.S. median income. From 2000 to 2006–2007, rural‐urban differences deteriorated slightly in favor of urban areas. We conclude by discussing implications of these findings and those of addressing rural immigrant economic well‐being more generally.     

Childhood poverty, early motherhood and adult social exclusion

Childhood poverty and early parenthood are both high on the current political agenda. The key new issue that this research addresses is the relative importance of childhood poverty and of early motherhood as correlates of outcomes later in life. How far are the ‘effects’ of early motherhood on later outcomes due to childhood precursors, especially experience of childhood poverty? Subsidiary questions relate to the magnitude of these associations, the particular levels of childhood poverty that prove most critical, and whether, as often assumed, only teenage mothers are subsequently disadvantaged, or are those who have their first birth in their early twenties similarly disadvantaged? The source of data for this study is the National Child Development Study. We examine outcomes at age 33 for several domains of adult social exclusion: welfare, socio‐economic, physical health, emotional well‐being and demographic behaviour. We control for a wide range of childhood factors: poverty; social class of origin and of father; mother's and father's school leaving age; family structure; housing tenure; mother's and father's interest in education; personality attributes; performance on educational tests; and contact with the police by age 16. There are clear associations for the adult outcomes with age at first birth, even after controlling for childhood poverty and the other childhood background factors. Moreover, we demonstrate that the widest gulf in adult outcomes occurs for those who enter motherhood early (before age 23), though further rein‐forced by teenage motherhood for most adult outcomes. We also show that any experience of childhood poverty is clearly associated with adverse outcomes in adulthood, with reinforcement for higher levels of childhood poverty for a few outcomes.     

“Beating the Odds” Versus “Changing the Odds”: Poverty,Resilience, and Family Policy

Mixed in with national data on declining poverty rates are other signs that poverty, economic hardship, and inequality continue unabated. This essay examines: (a) the scope of poverty and the growing disparity in income and wealth; (b) the consequences of poverty of adults and children; and (c) strategies for improving their resilience. It is suggested that resiliency will be enhanced more by keen attention to national economic policies than by focusing upon individual personality characteristics, family attributes, or even unique community features. Drawing on a public health analogy, a focus on prevention (through sound economic redistribution policies) could significantly strengthen families and improve their well‐being.     

Migration and Development: Mexico and Turkey

Mexico and Turkey are among the world's leading labor‐sending nations, with about 11 million Mexican‐born and 3.5 million Turkish‐born persons abroad in 2006. After two decades of uneven growth and job creation as well as persisting poverty and inequality, there are debates within both countries asking whether economic reforms have gone far enough to put the economy on a stable footing for sustained and equitable growth, or whether emigration (pressure) will continue. Some Mexicans are seeking to deepen North American Free Trade Agreement, while most Turks support entry into the European Union as a way of speeding economic growth.     

Growth,Inequality and Poverty in Emerging and Transition Economies

This paper aims to explore the quality of economic growth in a sample of 50 emerging and transition economies (ETEs), which are countries experiencing a process of fast growth and institutional change. Economic growth during 1995–2006 is regressed against poverty, inequality and human development variables using OLS cross-country regression models. The main findings are that growth did not reduce poverty and income inequality worsened too. On the one hand, economic growth occurred despite the worsening of income inequality. However, this result does not identify a “U-shaped” Kuznets curve because even after a consistent period of growth, inequality did not decrease and it remained at higher levels. Only countries with higher education levels and public expenditure in strategic dimensions seem to escape from this trap. On the other hand, growth occurred at the expense of an important human development variable i.e., life expectancy, and of an important indicator of democracy, i.e., voice and accountability.     

Questioning the Pro‐Poor Agenda: Examining the Links between Social Protection and Poverty

This article investigates an empirical puzzle. Taking the case of Botswana, how is it that poverty is so high, when the country largely conforms to pro‐poor growth strategies? This article suggests that the minimal role of social‐security policies partly explains the relatively high poverty levels. This hypothesis is tested in a large‐N study of developing countries which shows that broad‐based and generous, rather than pro‐poor, social‐security policies impact strongly on poverty levels. The analysis further alludes to other obstacles to poverty reduction, such as economic transformation, which may be combined with a pro‐active social‐policy agenda. Thus, poverty‐alleviating strategies should be refocused to allow for a wider and more coherent role for social‐security policies.     

His and Hers: Economic Factors and Relationship Quality in Germany

Research has linked economic factors to relationship quality in the United States, primarily using cross‐sectional data. In the current study, 2 waves of the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics data (n = 2,937) were used to test the gendered association between economic factors and relationship satisfaction among young German couples. In contrast to U.S.‐based studies, the findings showed striking gender differences in the association between economic factors and relationship satisfaction for Germans. In cross‐sectional models, women's relationship satisfaction was positively associated with receiving government economic support, and men's satisfaction was positively associated with poverty status and negatively associated with being a breadwinner. Longitudinal models revealed that changes in poverty status are associated with women's satisfaction, but men's satisfaction remains tied to their role as family provider. These unexpected results suggest that men's satisfaction is positively associated with a more equal division of labor market activity between partners.     

Mass Poverty,Slow Economic Growth and Redistribution

Abstract

Policy-makers in South Africa prefer to tackle poverty indirectly through promoting growth, and allowing benefits to trickle down to the poor, rather than reducing poverty directly through redistributing income. In the long run, economic growth is the only way to reduce poverty. But the benefits of growth take a long time to mitigate poverty, especially in conditions of high inequality or high unemployment – both of which characterise South Africa. The poor benefit more through a more directly redistributive strategy even if overall growth is lower than it would otherwise be. Modelling the effects of different rates of growth, public works programmes and different redistributive strategies (including a basic income grant and expanded child support grants) shows that the poor benefit most from a directly redistributive basic income grant.     

Assessment of China’s Poor County Program

ABSTRACT

China made remarkable progress in rural poverty alleviation. A major policy instrument is the County Level Poverty Alleviation Program, which has vast policy support but is also criticized for targeting errors, misuse of funds, and making poverty both shameful and attractive. Whether this program, or the country’s economic growth in general, is the main force in poverty reduction is the question addressed in this article, analyzing data for the 592 poor counties. The response to the economic growth–policy alleviation conundrum is that a push for social wellbeing and empowerment is needed together with economic growth to achieve major poverty improvements.     

Livestock in the Household Economy: Cross‐Country Evidence from Microeconomic Data

The development of the livestock sector can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction, but there is inadequate understanding of livestock‐livelihoods linkages. This article draws on household‐level data from 12 developing countries to investigate the livestock‐asset position of rural households and its contribution to their income. The majority keep livestock; the less well‐off are more likely to keep livestock than the better‐off, but the very poor often lack the resources to invest in small animals. The key policy conclusion is that, contrary to common belief, there are no universal messages about livestock: policy needs to be tailored to farming systems, species, uses of livestock and different wealth groups.     

Impacts of the Triple Global Crisis on Growth and Poverty: The Case of Yemen

Yemen is an oil‐exporting and food‐importing country with the highest levels of poverty in the Middle East and North Africa. The impacts of the triple crisis are likely to further complicate pre‐existing conditions of conflict, oil depletion and governance failure. Using a dynamic CGE model, this article finds that oil‐driven growth in 2008 dominated the negative growth impacts of the food crisis, but that growth was not pro‐poor. The financial crisis of 2009 slowed growth sharply and raised the poverty rate to 42.8%, up from 34.8% in 2005/6. Poverty continues to be higher in rural areas, where almost half the population live in poverty.     

Poverty,Place, and Coal Employment across Appalachia and the United States in a New Economic Era

The impacts of employment in the coal industry remain controversial. Few studies have investigated these impacts over the decade of the great recession and in light of the nation's changing energy economy. We bring together two long‐standing rural sociological traditions to address debates framed at the national level and for Appalachian communities facing the throes of transition from the coal industry. Building from rural sociology's “poverty and place” tradition and from natural resources sociology, we examine the relationship between coal employment and communities’ economic well‐being as indicated by poverty, household income, and unemployment. The study spans U.S. and Appalachian counties from 1990 to 2010. U.S. counties with greater coal employment in 1990 had lower income and higher poverty in 2000. Overall, however, coal employment's effect is mixed in the 1990–2000 decade. By contrast, for the recent 2000–2010 decade, coal employment is positively associated with indicators of well‐being. In Appalachia, fewer employment alternatives outside mining are related to higher well‐being. Our findings extend the poverty and place literature and the natural resources literature and underscore why a just transition away from coal should focus on moving communities toward sectors offering better future livelihoods.