Incidence Of Absolute Poverty Research Articles

Analysis of household consumption function based on permanent income hypothesis in Sabah, Malaysia: A conceptual framework

In the past, Sabah has often been reported as Malaysia’s poorest state, with the recorded highest incidence of absolute poverty among all the other states. The consumption patterns of households in Sabah have been significantly impacted by such circumstances. This further draws light on the adverse impact on the broader economy, as low levels of spending may restrict demand for products and services, stifling economic growth. The understanding of households’ consumption functions based on the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) will advance knowledge in identifying the key factors that influence the households’ spending decisions. Pointing out the scant number of past studies done within this very context, and focusing on the Sabah state in particular, further motivated this study, this paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that can estimate and examine the households’ consumption functions in Sabah. As such, the methodology of drawing upon narrative reviews from research in the past will be used in this paper to develop the conceptual framework. The result of this study built upon the framework developed will help in identifying the factors that explain the households’ consumption patterns, in particular, whether the function estimated will be consistent with the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH). It is hoped that the conceptual framework built will aid in providing valuable empirical insight for policymakers in designing effective policies that can uplift households that are living in poverty.

Three-Part Composite Pareto Modelling for Income Distribution in Malaysia

Income distribution models can be useful for describing the economic properties of a population. In this study, three-part composite Pareto models are fitted to the income distribution in Malaysia for the years 2007, 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2016. The three-part composite Pareto models divide the population into three parts, each following a different distribution model. The lower part follows the inverse Pareto distribution, the upper part follows the Pareto distribution, and the middle part follows another unspecified distribution model. For application in income data, the use of Gaussian mixture distribution is proposed for the middle part, making the inverse Pareto–Gaussian mixture-Pareto distribution model semi-parametric. From the model, it is found that the levels of income inequality in the lower and upper income groups decrease over the period of study. Additionally, the proportion of data following the inverse Pareto distribution in the model is highly correlated with the official absolute poverty incidence.

Poverty changes and decomposition in tourism communities in China

The relationship between tourism and poverty has been explored extensively by academics. However, the existing literature has not yet fully explored the changes in poverty and the causes of poverty in tourism communities, and this article contributes to addressing this issue. The article uses data from the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS) to measure and identify poverty in tourism communities and to quantitatively decompose poverty change. The study finds that the absolute poverty incidence in tourism communities is higher than the national average, and the relative poverty incidence shows a trend of “expanding-shrinking-expanding” during 2010–2018. Using the “growth-distribution” decomposition framework of poverty index changes to study the causes of poverty in tourism communities, the article finds that while the growth component can bring about a sustained poverty reduction effect, it is the distribution effect that determines the direction of poverty index changes in tourism communities. The article further decomposes the growth and distribution components of poverty and finds that, in addition to the income factor, the contribution of outwork is greater in the growth and distribution components. These results reveal new findings on poverty change in tourism communities, which are important for the current research on tourism poverty reduction.

Religion, social capital and poverty in Ghana: Correlations and explanations

AbstractReligion is a key source of social capital for poverty reduction. This study used nationally representative data from households (N = 16,772) in Ghana to determine the association between religious affiliation and the incidence of poverty. Descriptive statistics, multilevel mixed‐effect logistic model and nearest neighbour matching estimator were used to analyse the data. We found that relative to the unaffiliated, except affiliation with Other Christian and Other religions, affiliation with Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal/Charismatic, Islam and Ahmadiyya is negatively associated with the incidence of absolute poverty. In urban areas, relative to those who belong to no religion, except affiliation with Other religions, affiliation with all the major religious denomination is negatively associated with the incidence of absolute poverty. The study also found that, compared to all other denominations, affiliation with Ahmadiyya and Catholic is positively associated with the incidence of poverty in Ghana. We concluded that in Ghana, religious affiliation reduces the odds of falling into poverty for those who live in urban areas, although some religious norms and values could expose households to poverty. The study recommends that the introduction of faith tax on religious denominations and conditional transfer programmes could help maximize the effect of religious affiliation on poverty reduction in Ghana.

Are Italians Getting Multidimensionally Poorer? Evidence on the Lack of Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being

According to official statistics, the incidence of absolute poverty in Italy has sharply risen from 3.6 in 2005 to 7.7 percent in 2020, and this number is likely to rise in the post-pandemic period. However, standard poverty measures only consider the monetary aspect of poverty, neglecting the multidimensional nature of the phenomenon. The last decades have offered solid empirical evidence to guide political efforts to tackle both multidimensional wellbeing and poverty. In these times of rising inequalities, these efforts seem particularly valuable for identifying the most vulnerable groups. While Italy has made significant progress in defining multidimensional wellbeing, less attention has been given to multidimensional poverty. Hence, the goal of this paper is to offer a means for measuring multidimensional poverty (MPI) in Italy based on the Alkire-Foster method by using a widely recognized national framework for wellbeing (BES equitable and sustainable wellbeing) as the normative basis for the construction of the index. The contribution of the paper is twofold: (1) on the theoretical side, it seeks to increase the usability of national and international frameworks for wellbeing by proposing a national assessment scheme as a normative base for defining the dimensions of poverty; (2) on the empirical side, it provides evidence on the frequency and composition of multidimensional poverty in Italian regions. The results show that multidimensional poverty in Italy has increased over time, with the percentage of individuals considered as multidimensionally poor rising from 9.5 percent in 2005 to 17.5 percent in 2015. Moreover, a dimensional breakdown across regions and logistic regression shows that being older, female, from the South and married or widowed increases the probability of facing multidimensional poverty.

The Population Health of a Mining Region as a Factor Affecting the Social and Economic Development of the Area (A Case Study of Kemerovo Region)

The most vital component of human, labour capital, the foundation of public welfare of a country and its regions is population health. Development of Russian regions without taking into account the health factor will be limited in its nature. The study examines the impact of the health indicators of Kemerovo Region’s population on the social and economic development of the region. We used data on morbidity and mortality by main categories of causes, indicators of gross regional product per capita, money income per capita and absolute poverty incidence in Kemerovo Region for 2003–2017. The impact of health indicators on key regional development indicators was studied on the basis of correlation and regression analysis. A statistically significant relationship has been established between the incidence of active tuberculosis, mortality from circulatory system diseases, deaths from external causes and indicators of the social and economic development of Kuzbass. The incidence of active tuberculosis, mortality from suicides and accidental alcohol poisoning has a significant negative impact on the gross regional product. Mortality from circulatory system diseases and accidental alcohol poisoning results in reduction in the level of nominal money incomes of the population. The increase in absolute poverty incidence is significantly affected by mortality from suicides, from accidental alcohol poisoning and all causes of external mortality in the aggregate. The research results can be recommended for use in the strategic planning of the development of the region.

Two Decades of Declining Poverty but Rising Inequality in Laos

Over the past two decades consumption inequality has risen within Laos, while absolute poverty incidence has halved. The estimated Gini coefficient of private household expenditures per person rose from 0.311 to 0.364. This increase in the sample‐based estimate of inequality was statistically significant and occurred in all regions, in both rural and urban areas and among all major ethnic, educational and sectoral employment categories. Within‐group increases in inequality dominated between‐group changes. Official policy largely overlooks this point, focusing on reducing inequality between rather than within major groups. Economic inequality seems certain to become a more pressing policy concern.

Two Decades of Rising Inequality and Declining Poverty in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

Over the last 2 decades the distribution of private household expenditures has become more unequal in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, with the Gini coefficient rising from 0.311 to 0.364, even though absolute poverty incidence has halved. The increase in inequality was statistically significant and reduced the average rate of poverty reduction per year by about 28%, meaning the actual rate compared with the counterfactual rate that would have occurred if the mean real expenditures had increased at their observed levels but inequality had not changed. When the data are decomposed into rural and urban areas of residence or by province, or by the ethnicity of the household head, the increase in inequality within groups dominates any changes between groups; inequality has increased throughout the country. In contrast, access to publicly provided services has become more equal; disparities in participation rates between richer and poorer groups have diminished.

Income inequality in the developing world.

Should income inequality be of concern in developing countries? New data reveal less income inequality in the developing world than 30 years ago. However, this is due to falling inequality between countries. Average inequality within developing countries has been slowly rising, though staying fairly flat since 2000. As a rule, higher rates of growth in average incomes have not put upward pressure on inequality within countries. Growth has generally helped reduce the incidence of absolute poverty, but less so in more unequal countries. High inequality also threatens to stall future progress against poverty by attenuating growth prospects. Perceptions of rising absolute gaps in living standards between the rich and the poor in growing economies are also consistent with the evidence.

The Standard of Living Debate in Development Policy

The aim of this paper is to expose the ideological manipulation of the concept of poverty in the associated standard of living measurement tools in the development literature. The World Bank and its partners in the war on poverty fail to locate and analyze the critical contextual factors at issue in the prevalence and persistence of poverty. This is a problem that we trace back to a fundamental concern with advancing economic interests tied to global capital, interests that are in direct conflict with the stated concern of the World Bank and its partners in the project of cooperation for international development for world poverty — to reduce the incidence of absolute poverty an alleviate its worst effects. The implication of our findings is the need to construct methodologies and measurement techniques that are closer to the poor and their real living conditions. This, we conclude, is a matter of methodology and policy.

Poverty and Growth in Southeast Asia

Over recent decades, most countries of Southeast Asia achieved reductions in absolute poverty incidence, but these reductions varied in magnitude between countries and over time. This paper shows that differences in the rate and sectoral composition of economic growth explain part, but not all, of these differences. It describes outcomes on poverty incidence in Southeast Asia and relates them to the growth of output in the agricultural, industrial and services sectors. This analysis uses data from the 1970s to the most recent available for Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines to analyse the economic determinants of changes in poverty incidence in Southeast Asia.

POVERTY IN POLAND DURING THE 1990s: ARE THE RESULTS ROBUST?

This study examines the robustness of poverty measures for Poland in the 1990s to employed methods. At least two definitions or techniques of estimation are applied to each of the following components of poverty measures: (1) household well‐being; (2) poverty line; (3) equivalence scales; and (4) poverty index. Furthermore, groups at risk of poverty are selected by means of decomposition of the poverty incidence and by estimation of the probit model. Relatively robust conclusions can be reached for trends in absolute poverty incidence, which show an inverted U‐shape with rapidly increasing poverty rates in 1993–1995 and declining rates since, but with continued increases in relative poverty. Some robust correlates of high poverty (low education, unemployment, rural residence, large number of children) are also found.

Poverty, Inequality, and Economic Growth: The Case of Thailand

Thailand has recently experienced a prolonged economic boom followed by a collapse. During the boom the incidence of absolute poverty fell dramatically but relative inequality increased. The collapse of 1997 had the reverse effects. The poor initially became significantly worse off in an absolute sense but proportionately less so than the rich. Inequality thus declined. The significance of these events depends on a fundamental question: does the welfare of the poor depend on their absolute standard of living, as reflected in measures of poverty incidence, or on their position relative to the rich, as reflected in measures of inequality?

How did the world's poorest fare in the 1990s?

Drawing on 297 national sample surveys spanning 88 countries, we find that there was a net decrease in the overall incidence of both absolute and relative consumption poverty between 1987 and 1998. But it was not enough to reduce the total number of poor by various definitions. The incidence of absolute poverty fell in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East–North Africa, while it rose in Sub‐Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe–Central Asia. Over the whole data set, interpersonal distribution improved slightly from the point of view of the poor, due mainly to growth in China.

Poverty incidence and economic growth in Southeast Asia

The countries of Southeast Asia have achieved very large reductions in absolute poverty incidence over recent decades. This paper examines the relationship between this accomplishment and the rate of economic growth. It develops a time series of available data on the headcount measure of poverty incidence for Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines over the period from the 1960s to 1999, in aggregate and in both rural and urban areas. It then uses this pooled data set to analyze the economic determinants of poverty incidence, the impact of the 1997 economic crisis and the degree to which poverty will be affected by alternative hypothetical recovery paths.

Is growth good for the poor? Thailand’s boom and bust

In the past two decades, Thailand experienced a prolonged economic boom followed by a collapse. During the boom the incidence of absolute poverty fell dramatically but relative inequality increased. The collapse of 1997 had the reverse effects. The poor became significantly worse off in an absolute sense but proportionately less so than the rich; inequality thus declined. The significance of these events depends on a fundamental question: does the welfare of the poor depend on their absolute standard of living, as reflected in measures of poverty incidence, or on their position relative to the rich, as reflected in measures of inequality?

Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth: The Asian Experience

The Asian experience of poverty reduction has varied widely. Over recent decades the economies of East and Southeast Asia have achieved large reductions in absolute poverty incidence, but in South Asia the achievement has generally been less impressive. This paper examines the relationship between these outcomes and the rate of economic growth, both in aggregate and in the agricultural, industrial, and services sectors. It uses available data on the headcount measure of poverty incidence in India; Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines; Thailand; and Taipei, China over the period from the 1960s to the 1990s, in aggregate and in both rural and urban areas. It then uses this data set to analyze the economic determinants of changes in poverty incidence and attempts to explain the differences in the country outcomes that are obtained. The evidence supports the view that the overall rate of economic growth is much more important than its sectoral composition.

Vietnam: Adjustment, Growth and Poverty

Results of Vietnam's first large-scale household survey show the incidence of absolute poverty in to be widespread, concentrated in the countryside and quite variable between geographical regions; moreover, the average poverty incidence is considerably higher in Vietnam than most of its Southeast Asian neighbours. Although some poverty targeting is needed, it is argued below that promoting pro-poor policies will depend principally on providing improved rural economic and financial infrastructure, maintaining favourable terms-of-trade for food agriculture and creating off-farm employment. Cautious optimism is justified in light of Vietnam's current high growth, its relatively egalitarian distribution of land assets and the stress laid on agricultural reform throughout the doi moi (renovation) period. At the same time, the data suggests that a fall in absolute poverty will be accompanied by a rapid rise in relative poverty; this problem can be alleviated only if more effective means are found of channelling resources towards the country's poorest regions and amending and decentralizing the financial and administrative basis of social provision. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Structural Adjustment and Poverty: The Case of Pakistan

Despite the external shocks in the 1980s, the economy continued to grow at a respectable rate. However, increasing internal and external imbalances caused an economic crisis in 1988 and lead to an implementation of a medium term structural adjustment programme within the framework of the IMF and the World Bank. Neither theory nor existing evidence gives a conclusive verdict about the effects of adjustment policies on poverty. Hence, the paper examines the actual changes in absolute poverty during the period of adjustment. The actual changes in the distribution have been examined from two comparable household income and expenditure surveys (HIES) for 1987-88 and 1990-91, spanning the period of adjustment. Evidence suggests that the stylised facts of structural adjustment policies are consistent with actual changes in the absolute poverty. The first order stochastic dominance test suggests that not only the absolute poverty incidence but also the intensity and severity of poverty increased significantly by all poverty lines and poverty measures over the period of adjustment. Structural adjustment created new poor in urban areas amongst the low income groups (mainly Clerical and Sales workers) whose real wages were eroded over the period. Poverty also increased unambiguously among self-employed (smallholders in the informal sector) and unemployed who seems to have been affected adversely by the overall economic contraction. Though, the government has the priority to achieve the fiscal balance, it should seek to ameliorate the most distressing cost arising in the short run. Excessive reliance on demand management in scale or speed is counter-productive for adjustment. Adjustment strategies need to account for the trade-off between shortterm gains and long-term benefits foregone.

On Poverty and Inequality in Latin America

It is by now conventional wisdom to say that, while the countries of Latin America have improved their economic performance over the past few years, the majority of their populations have suffered a reversal in their standards of living compared to, let us say, 1980. After the protracted recession and acute macroeconomic disequilibria which was experienced by almost all the countries during the first half of the 1980s, many are staging a recovery in the 1990s. On the positive side, some of the indicators most frequently cited include the resumption of growth (albeit at moderate rates), greater financial stability, an increasingly diversified export sector, and political democratization. On the negative side, one finds inevitable mention of the following: inequitable distribution of income, a high incidence of absolute poverty, and the social tensions that tend to accompany them.