Income In Rural Areas Research Articles

Is Pollution Income Relationship Non-monotonic?: Evidence Based on Indoor Air Pollution in India

In the context of health risk caused by the use of bio-fuels for cooking in developing countries, existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for indoor air pollution is a policy relevant empirical issue that deserves attention. The results based on Indian household level data for the period 1983-2000, show non-monotonic relationship between pollution and income in rural areas and during 1980s in urban India, validating EKC hypothesis. The spatial and temporal representation of EKC presented highlight stark difference between rural and urban households providing insights on policy responses to enable faster transition of rural households towards 'cleaner' fuels.

Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa

This article evaluates the impact of a large cash transfer program in South Africa on children's nutritional status and investigates whether the gender of the recipient affects that impact. In the early 1990s the benefits and coverage of the South African social pension program were expanded for the black population. In 1993 the benefits were about twice the median per capita income in rural areas. More than a quarter of black South African children under age five live with a pension recipient. Estimates suggest that pensions received by women had a large impact on the anthropometric status (weight for height and height for age) of girls but little effect on that of boys. No similar effect is found for pensions received by men. This suggests that the efficiency of public transfer programs may depend on the gender of the recipient.

THE CHANGING ROLE OF NON-FARM ACTIVITIES IN AGRICULTURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN INDONESIA: SOME INSIGHTS FROM THE AGRICULTURAL CENSUSES

The literature on off-farm sources of income in rural areas of developing countries continues to grow. This paper uses data from the household income surveys carried out as part of the 1983 and 1993 agricultural censuses to explore aspects of the changing role of off-farm income sources for agricultural households in different parts of Indonesia. The paper examines variations in the ratio of off-farm to total agricultural household income by holding size, by total household income class and by province. It also examines the linkages between on-farm and off-farm income growth. Comparisons are made with findings from other parts of Asia and elsewhere in the developing world.

The Energy Challenge

The Energy Challenge

Beyond the commodity economy: the persistence of informal economic activity in rural england

A widely held view in economic geography is that the commodity economy — in which goods and services are produced by capitalist firms for a profit under market conditions — has permeated, albeit slowly and unevenly, ever more areas of daily life. Until now, however, little evidence has been provided of the extent and unevenness of its penetration. This is the intention of this paper. First, secondary data are used to evaluate the penetration of commodification in the advanced economies. Rather than find its permeation into every crevice of daily life, a non‐commodified sphere as large as the commodified sphere is identified. Reporting case study evidence on the commodification of household services in rural England, explanations are then sought for the persistence of these non‐commodified spaces and the uneven penetration of commodification. This reveals that despite household services being more commodified in higher income rural areas, commodification and its uneven contours cannot be explained simply in terms of economic determinants. Although economic forces prevent the advance of commodification, especially in lower income rural areas, strong ‘cultures of resistance’ to the edicts of commodification also impede its deeper penetration. The paper thus concludes by outlining the roles played by both economic and cultural forces in shaping commodification and its uneven contours, as well as the need for economic geography to broaden its scope beyond the commodity economy.

The Dynamics of Low Income in Rural Areas

PHIMISTER E., UPWARD R. and VERA-T OSCANO E. (2000) The dynamics of low income in rural areas, Reg. Studies 34 , 407-417. This paper provides a picture of the dynamics of low income in rural areas by comparing a rural sample with a non-rural sample using the British Household Panel Survey. The paper considers income distributions and inequality, low income mobility, the distribution of low income spells, the characteristics of those on low incomes and possible trigger events associated with low income entry and exit across the two samples. Although in absolute terms somewhat less important than in non-rural areas, the results confirm that low income in rural areas is significant and emphasize a number of important dynamic aspects of the problem, such as the extent of persistent low income among the rural poor. PHIMISTER E., UPWARD R. et VERA-TOSCANO E. (2000) La dynamique du faible revenu dans les zones rurales, Reg. Studies 34 , 407-417. A partir du British Household Panel Survey (un sondage auprès des ménages en Grande-Bretagne) cet article cherche à brosser un tableau de la dynamique du faible revenu dans les zones rurales en comparant un échantillon rural à un échantillon non-rural. L'article prend en considération la distribution du revenu et l'inégalité, l'impact du faible revenu sur la mobilité et sa périodicité, les caractéristiques de ceux qui touchent un faible revenu et, dans les deux échantillons, les événements qui déclenchent l'entrée ou la sortie d'une situation de faible revenu. Les résultats laissent voir l'ampleur du faible revenu dans les zones rurales et mettent l'accent sur un nombre des aspects dynamiques importants du problème, tel l'ampleur du faible revenu parmi les ruraux pauvres, bien qu'en termes absolus il s'avère quelque peu moins important que dans les zones non-rurales. PHIMISTER E., UPWARD R. und VERA-TOSCANO E. (2000) Die Dynamik der Einkommensschwäche in ländlichen Gebiete, Reg. Studies 34 , 407-417. Dieser Aufsatz legt ein Bild der Dynamik der Einkommensschwäche in ländlichen Gebieten vor, indem er mit Hilfe des 'British Household Panel Survey' Vergleiche zwischen einer Stichprobe vom Lande mit einer anderartigen zieht. Der Aufsatz berücksichtigt Einkommensverteilungen und Ungleichheit, Mobilität geringer Einkommen, die Streuung von Perioden niedrigen Einkommens, die Hauptmerkmale der einkommensschwachen Bevölkerung und in zwei Stichproben mögliche Auslösemomente, die Abstieg zu und Aufstieg von geringen Einkommen begleiten. Obschon absolut gesehen von etwas geringerer Bedeutung als in nicht-ländlichen Gebieten, bestätigen die Ergebnisse doch, daß Einkommensschwa¨che in la¨ndlichen Gebieten eine bedeutende Rolle spielt, und betonen mehrere wichtige Aspekte des Problems, wie etwa das Ausmaß gleichbleibender Einkommensschwa¨che unter den Armen auf dem Lande.

KONSUMSI MAKANAN DI DESA TERTINGGAL WILAYAH BOGOR, TANGERANG DAN BEKASI (BOTABEK) SEBAGAI DAMPAK KRISIS EKONOMI

FOOD CONSUMPTION IN POOR VILLAGES OF BOGOR, TANGERANG AND BEKASI REGIONS AS THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC CRISIS. Background: Socio-economic condition of population was deteriorated by economic crisis that hit Indonesia in mid of 1997 altogether with long wry season during 1997. Economic factors such as increase in the price of the daily needs, reduction in agricultural production and the level of income in rural areas, contraction in the construction sector in urban areas, depression in the manpower market altogether had negative impact to the welfare of the lower income population. Objective: The aim of the survey was to learn the nutrient intake of household in poor villages as the impact of economic crisis. Method: The Nutritional Consumption Survey in all villages of West Java Province was conducted at the end of 1996 and these data were used as baseline. Similar survey was conducted at the end of 1999 in Bogor City, Tangerang and Bekasi Districts as the follow-up data. Thirty villages in each district were selected randomly to include 10 poor villages and 20 non-poor category villages. In each village, one Posyandu that had been the location of 1996 survey was selected. Ten households that have under-five child were selected randomly in the Posyandu. Results: Household . Energy consumption in poor villages and non-poor category villages were higher before the crisis compared to during the crisis. Protein consumption in the non-poor villages before the crisis was similar to during crisis. Vitamin A consumption in non-poor and poor villages much lower during crisis compared to before crisis. Under-five children 1999. Energy, protein and fat intake of under-five children was similar between poor and non-poor category villages. Carbohydrate intake was significantly different between poor and non-poor category villages. Iron intake was similar before and during crisis. Conclusions: Economic crisis has negative impact on energy and protein consumption both poor and non-poor category villages before and during crisis. Energy and vitamin A intakes in poor and non-poor category villages reduced during crisis compared to before crisis. Recommendations: Nutritional improvement programs to overcome the impact of economic crisis should be directed to the poor villages. However, if the crisis remained continued the non-poor village should also be given attention. Key Words: nutrient, food consumption, household, poor villages, economic crisis.

Sustainable Production of Native Aromatic and Medicinal Herbs in Cordoba Province, Argentina

The province of Cordoba in central Argentina is naturally rich in aromatic and medicinal herbs that are in high demand as ingredients in teas and herbal medicines. Most of the herbs sold are harvested from natural populations, and this activity is a primary source of income for families in the Sierra de Cordoba region. As a result of over-collection and other poor harvesting practices, many native plant populations have been reduced in size or extirpated. The economic consequence of the gradual decline of this resource has been a loss of real income in rural areas coupled with a pattern of emigration from small towns to larger cities. PRODEMA is a collaborative effort by universities in Argentina and the United States, with the sponsorship of the Cordoba government, to domesticate and to market the most commercially important species. Horticultural research has focused on the development of propagation techniques and identification and selection of desirable chemotypes.

Rice research for food security and sustainable agricultural development in Asia: Achievements and future challenges

Rice is the major staple food of Asia, and an important source of employment and income in rural areas, particularly in low-income countries. Research has contributed significantly in achieving food security by increasing the yield potential of rice in irrigated systems, reducing the crop maturity period and achieving yield stability by developing resistance against major insects and diseases in the modern high-yielding varieties. Poverty is, however, still extensive in fragile rainfed rice ecosystems where rice yield has remained low, as scientists have yet to develop high-yielding varieties resistant to abiotic stresses and problem soils. Rice production needs to be increased by another 70% over the next 30 years to meet growing food needs. This has to be achieved with less land, less water, and less labor to accommodate the demand for these inputs from the expanding nonagricultural sectors. The challenge to the rice research community is to make further shifts in yield potential of rice for the irrigated systems, to close the yield gaps in the rainfed systems through developing resistance of high yielding varieties to abiotic stresses, and greater understanding of the interactions between genotypes and environment, developing durable resistance against pests and diseases to reduce farmers' dependence on harmful agrochemicals, and to increase efficiency in the use of water, labor and fertilizers. As further intensification of rice cultivation is inevitable, scientists must understand the negative environmental side-effects of increasing rice productivity, to develop appropriate mitigation options.

Eradication of poliomyelitis

China and the other countries of the Western Pacific Region have a goal of eradication of wild poliovirus by the end of 1995. In this report we examine the progress made toward eradication through the end of 1993. We examined the information about poliomyelitis and wild poliovirus based on the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance system. The number of reported poliomyelitis cases decreased from 4623 cases in 1989 and 5065 cases in 1990, which occurred during a large nationwide poliomyelitis epidemic, to 538 cases in 1993. Mass supplemental immunization sessions were conducted during the 1991 to 1992 and 1992 to 1993 winters. After the two rounds of supplemental immunizations in the 1992 to 1993 winter, wild poliovirus was not detected for the subsequent 21 months in 22 contiguous provinces in central and northern China, in which 980 million persons reside. In 1993 wild poliovirus was detected in only 5 provinces in southern China and in 2 provinces in the remote Western region; these provinces have only 14% of the total population in China. China is close to achieving its 1995 poliomyelitis elimination goal. Mass supplemental immunizations in children 0 to 3 years old can rapidly eliminate wild poliovirus from large, very densely populated areas, low income rural areas and remote mountainous areas. There appears to be no technical obstacle, even in the most difficult areas, to achieving global eradication of wild poliovirus by the year 2000.

Albania: Income Distribution, Poverty, and Social Safety Nets in the Transition, 1991-1993

This paper examines developments in Albania`s income distribution and poverty during the transition to a market-oriented economy. It pays particular attention to the impact of price liberalization on the agricultural terms of trade and production, the decline in state enterprise employment, emigrant remittances, and social safety nets. Income and consumption data produce conflicting results. Based on income data, including average presumptive agricultural incomes and state sector wages, there is a significant rise in real income in rural areas and a decline in real income in urban areas. Based on food consumption data, however, a large decline in urban real incomes is implausible. Poverty in both the urban and the rural population was mitigated by the presence of formal social safety nets, as well as informal arrangements in the form of emigrant remittances.

Distributed Lag Effects of Transportation Expenditures on Rural Income and Employment

Effects of transportation expenditures on income and employment were evaluated using polynomial distributed lags. Results indicate that a 1 percent increase in transportation expenditures increased farm income in rural areas by 1.94 percent, distributed over four years, and nonfarm income by 0.86 percent, distributed over six years. Similar positive results were found for farm and nonfarm employment in rural areas distributed over nine years.

Statistical Analysis of Income Distribution in the Jiangsu Province of China

This article analyzes changes in the distribution of household income in rural areas of China between 1980 and 1986. The period is interesting because important organizational changes were introduced in Chinese agriculture in 1978 and extended gradually during the 1980s. The results show that the average household income per head increased rapidly and so did income inequality. Also, the shape of income distribution changed markedly and by 1986 assumed the almost perfect log-normal shape observed in other developing countries. The degree of income inequality increased considerably and by 1986 was similar to that observed in India, Iraq and Kenya. Methods of estimating the Lorenz curve and the associated Gini coefficient, when income distribution is not log-normal, are also considered. This paper presents information about the distribution of household income in rural areas of the Jiangsu Province of China, analyzes the data and compares the results with similar studies using Indian, Iraqi and Kenyan data (Rajaraman, 1975; Kmietowicz, 1984; Kmi- etowicz & Webley, 1975). The Chinese results come from household budget surveys conducted in 1980, 1983 and 1986. The period covered is interesting as it corresponds to the gradual introduction of reforms in farm management by the government in 1978. The analysis of the data shows that incomes increased substantially during the period and so did their inequality. The shape of income distribution also altered significantly. These changes occurred gradually during the period and by 1986 the degree of income inequality and the shape of the distribution were similar to those observed in India, Iraq and Kenya. The income distributions for the three years and results of their basic statistical analysis, providing measures of central tendency, dispersion and skewness, are presented in Section 2. The changes in the degree of income inequality are analyzed in Section 3. Lorenz curves are obtained for the three distributions and the trapezoidal method is used to estimate the Gini coefficients which measure the degree of income inequality. The results for the Jiangsu Province are compared with other estimates for the Province and China as a whole. They are also compared with results for other developing countries. In Section 4, the log-normal distribution, which was found to describe well the distribution of household income in rural areas of India, Iraq and Kenya, was fitted to the three distributions. The results show that the shape of the distribution changed substantially during the period and by 1986 had an almost perfect log-normal form. The degree of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient also increased during the period and by 1986 was similar to that found in India, Kenya and Iraq in the 1960s and 1970s. Section 5 deals with the estimation of the Gini coefficient when the underlying distribution of income is not log-normal and the actual distribution is unknown. The procedure involves statistical estimation of parameters of several functions used to describe the Lorenz curve. The functions are so chosen that the Gini coefficient can be deduced from the estimated parameters. The functions employed are those used recently by Rao and Tam (1987). The results are rather inconclusive, showing that accuracy of the estimates depends greatly on the function used. The Kakwani-Podder model gives the best results, but the estimates of the Gini coefficient based on the

Le qat, planche de salut ou cancer de l'économie yéménite ?

Khat, a source of salvation or of cancer for Yemen's economy ? Especially since the 1960s and 1970s, when the number of emigrants sending earnings back home increased sharply, khat has become important in North Yemen's economy. Nearly half the population consumes it, nearly a third of farmers grow it - on the best land. By accounting for nearly a quarter of the income in rural areas, khat finances social infrastructures, hydraulic systems and transportation, and provides jobs for poor peasants. This Bmild" narcotic has its defenders in high places even though it is officially considered to be a bane. Replacing it calls for adopting other crops and developing other, profitable economic activities.

The Brazilian Alcohol Program: Foundations, Results, and Perspectives

Abstract The Brazilian alcohol program, Proálcool, was developed as a strategic answer to the high dependence on imported oil and sharp increases in oil prices that adversely affected the Brazilian balance of payments. The program is intended to replace part of the gasoline consumption with ethanol. The availability of resources, including fertile land and unskilled labor, made possible its implementation. As a result of these measures, there were important changes in the Brazilian energy matrix. The most important were the substitution between gasoline and fuel alcohol and also between fuel oil and electricity. Other benefits with Proálcool include environmental gains, employment creation, increase in rural area income, and technological improvements in the sugarcane sector. These have allowed an ethanol cost reduction from US$70/bbl at the beginning the program (1976) to US$45/bbl in 1989. This means a cost reduction of about 4% per year during the 1980s, which must continue in the same way during the next decade.

Chinese Social Welfare: Policies and Outcomes

China in the 1980s is in the midst of a social revolution as far–reaching as either Land Reform or the early years of the Cultural Revolution. After four decades of championing the superiority of state monopolies and the evils of private ownership, the leaders of the Politburo have decollectivized agriculture, advocated commodification of land values, encouraged private trade and investment, and explicitly agreed that it is good if a few get rich first. Rural citizens in particular have responded with alacrity to this privatization of work and the retreat of the Party and the state from the daily management of agriculture. The household farm has become the basic unit of production for the first time since 1952, and private entrepreneurs have transformed the structure of rural commerce and manufacturing. Average incomes in rural areas trebled in the decade after 1977 and the economic gap between rural and urban citizens noticeably narrowed.

The Subsidy from Nature: Shifting Cultivation, Successional Palm Forests, and Rural Development

This paper outlines the importance of the small-scale extractive sector to extremely impoverished households in rural areas of tropical Brazil. Extractive activities are important as inputs to household reproduction, and are critical as a source of cash income. In the case study we analyze, small-scale extraction was roughly equivalent to wage labor and to agriculture in its contribution to household income. We suggest that in rural development analysis, a significant source of both use and exchange values has been overlooked. This issue is of particular concern for three main reasons. First, the importance of small-scale extraction is more pronounced among the more impoverished. Second, extraction is a major source of cash for women, who are often denied access to alternative means of acquiring income in rural areas. Finally, current rural development programs are actively undermining access to the resources and often imply their destruction. Through a detailed social and ecological analysis of the babas...

The Political Economy of Rural Development in Latin America: An Interpretation: Comment

In an article in this Journal, Alain de Janvry argues that increased among marginal farmers (minifudistas) in Latin America leads to an increase in family size and .. thus leads to more poverty (p. 495). This implies not only that fertility is high in low income rural areas but that as income decreases fertility increases. De Janvry feels that . . ecological and demographic contradictions in subsistence sector ... (are) ... an integral part of dynamics of growth in peripheral economies of world capitalist system ... (and that his theory that includes these ecological and demographic contradictions in subsistence sector) permits identification of variables that affect rural and understanding of political economy of alternative strategies aimed at alleviating it (pp. 495-96). I will argue on both theoretical and empirical grounds that and mining of land in rural areas is associated with lower rather than higher fertility and against existence of ecological and demographic contradictions that lead from rural to increasing family size to even greater poverty. In case where children are producer goods (rather than consumer goods (Becker)), de Janvry maintains that the pressure of in minifundio implies need to search for additional productive resources. Strict individual economic rationality in subsistence sector will often lead to mining land and increasing family size in order to face poverty, and thus leads to more poverty (p. 495). In contrast to de Janvry's assertion about consequences of individual economic rationality on fertility, neoclassical economic theory posits that determinants of fertility in rural areas are factors that influence net returns to rural households from additional

Technical Change and the Distribution of Income in Rural Areas

It is not ... the new technology which is the primary cause of the accentuated imbalances in the countryside. It is not the fault of the new technology that the credit service does not serve those for whom it was originally intended; that the extension services are not living up to expectations; that the panchayats are political rather than development bodies; that security of tenure is a luxury of the few; that rents are exorbitant; that for the greater part tenurial legislation is deliberately miscarried; or that wage scales are hardly sufficient to keep soul and body together. [25] Wolf Ladejinsky--1969