Poverty Inequality Research Articles

Social capital as a predictor of adolescents' sexual risk behavior: a state-level exploratory study.

This exploratory study assessed the state-level association between social capital, poverty, and income inequality and adolescents' sexual risk and protective behaviors. A cross-sectional design using state-level correlations was employed. Seven outcome measures from the national 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey were used. For females and males, social capital was significantly associated with five of the seven outcome measures (all associations p < 01). For females, the amount of variance explained by these correlations ranged from 23% to 45%; the range for males was 20% to 52%. Poverty was not a significant predictor of any outcome variable. Income inequality was a significant predictor of birth control usage among females, but in multivariate regression analyses, only social capital retained significance. Findings provide preliminary evidence that social capital may have a profound influence of adolescents' sexual risk and protective behaviors. Social capital was inversely correlated with sexual risk behaviors and positively correlated with protective sexual behaviors. Further and more comprehensive research involving social capital and adolescents is warranted.

The Gender Gap in Poverty in Modern Nations: Single Motherhood, the Market, and the State

In this article we examine gender gaps in poverty in the United States and seven other Western nations, asking how single motherhood, market earnings, and welfare states affect gender inequality in poverty. Our analyses speak to the theoretical literature emphasizing the gendered logic and effects of welfare states and labor markets. We find that single-mother families have higher poverty rates than other families in all nations except Sweden, though the degree of their poverty varies. Regarding welfare states, we find that the tax and transfer systems in Sweden and the Netherlands most effectively reduce gender inequality in poverty. Gender inequality in market earnings is worst in the Netherlands and Australia, though among full-time workers, Australia has the lowest gender gap. We conclude by discussing the policy issues raised by our findings.

Income Distribution among Households in Owerri Agricultural Area of Imo State, Nigeria

The broad objective of this study was to examine income distribution and estimate the Gini (G) coefficient of income distribution among households in the Owerri Agricultural Zone of Imo State, Nigeria. The multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting the sample. The sample size comprised ninety households who were randomly selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire. Analysis of the data show that the mean monthly income among male-headed households is N5117.13, while that among women in male-headed households is N2800.38. Analysis of the Gini (G) coefficient of income distribution among male headed households (G=0.306) and that among women in male headed households (G=0.331) show that there are inequitable distribution of income in the area. It was suggested that the income Level of the households could be enhanced through education, income stabilization and poverty alleviation programmes, and employment guarantee schemes such as the creation of facilities for agricultural credit to directly benefit the poor and the more vulnerable groups. It was concluded that there are low-income level, income inequality and high level of poverty among households in the area. [IJARD Vol.3 2002: 28-36]

Social Exclusion in Latin America: Introduction and Overview

This paper presents the results of an Inter-American Development Bank Research Network project on Social Exclusion in Latin American and the Caribbean. The object of this project is to document and analyze the extent and consequences of some specific types of social exclusion in Latin America. The project has concentrated on some particular forms of exclusion that are important for the determination of income and thus poverty and income inequality and that are relatively amenable to quantitative analysis. The purposes of the project are also to shed some light on the mechanisms of social exclusion, and to provide some guidance for policies aimed at addressing them.

Poverty in Uruguay (1989-97)

The purpose of this paper will be to study the evolution of inequality and poverty in Uruguay between 1989 and 1997. We found that from 1991 there is an increase wage inequality in Uruguay and poverty changed little, decreased until 1993 and then increased. Near a half of poor people in Uruguay are children and old people contribute very little to poverty.

Poverty Inequality and Poverty Mobility in Germany in the 1990’s&gt;

Using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), this contribution compares poverty patterns Germany in the 1990s to that in the 1980s. Defining poverty line at half the median equivalent disposable income the paper analyzes income inequality and mobility below the poverty line as well as poverty duration for men and women aged 20 through 50 years. The socio-economic determinants of poverty duration are investigated with a logistic regression model. The empirical results point to an increasing feminization of poverty inequality and immobility in the 1960’s. The influence of gender and educational status on poverty duration is more pronounced in this decade.

Book Reviews

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public HealthVolume 25, Issue 3 p. 277-280 Free Access Book Reviews First published: 25 September 2007 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-842X.2001.tb00579.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article: Encylopedic Dictionary of AIDS-Related Terminology: By Jeffrey T. Huber and Mary L. Gillaspy. Falls in Older People: Risk factors and strategies for prevention: Stephen R. Lord, Catherine Sherrington, Hylton B. Menz. Poverty Inequality and Health. An international perspective: Eds David Leon and Gill Walt Volume25, Issue3June 2001Pages 277-280 RelatedInformation

REGION, POVERTY, SIBSHIP, AND GENDER INEQUALITY IN MEXICAN EDUCATION

Why did gender inequality in secondary school access persist after Mexico made attendance compulsory in 1993? This research reveals an interaction between geography, poverty, and sibship structure in contributing to the underrepresentation of girls in Mexico's poorer southern states. Using regional and contextual information about enrollments and development, a multinomial logistic regression model is estimated. The results show that in addition to family and regional poverty, the position of girls within the sibship contributes to their remaining in or dropping out of school following the primary level and their likelihood of employment or domestic work as an alternative to schooling. The results have implications for Mexico's targeted approach to eliminating the effects of poverty on educational opportunity.

Refugees: 50 years on See pages 1425, 1421, 1454

On July 28 1951 the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted with a primary objective of protecting the rights of refugees during a war. Despite the adoption of the Convention conflicts rage throughout much of the world and harsh government and military factions continue to terrorize civilian populations. Moreover social inequality poverty and lack of opportunities still linger on leading to migration. These refugees face difficulties regarding their increasing number and physical protection from violence. Political support and funding provided to them are insufficient showing the neglect of their rights. Even those who seek refuge in the West have limited access to health care and social support. It is essential that health professionals play a vital role in promoting positive media and political attention towards the displaced.

Poverty and development in Southeast Europe

The least fortunate individuals, families, social groups and regions of societies are called ‘poor’, as are the least developed economies. Today, societies recognize five important features of poverty. First, it is widespread, existing even in the richest societies. Second, the poor are usually considered neither responsible for their state of poverty nor able to extricate themselves without help. Third, economic development does not solve economic poverty. Without intervention, poverty may change with economic development, but it does not disappear. Fourth, poverty's far‐reaching impact on the economy is negative and large enough so that it cannot be disregarded; this makes poverty a social problem. As a result, all societies have a system of redistribution to help their poorest members. In modern societies, this redistribution occurs through a transparent institutionalized system of transfers, which leads to the fifth feature: the system of redistribution is a policy choice that is never neutral. The way society helps its poorest members also significantly influences society and the economy. Under different circumstances and for different policy goals, different systems may be most appropriate. These features make a discussion of poverty especially important for Southeast European economies in transition. In this poorest region of Europe, poverty is the main generator of instability, and the transition process generates extensive poverty. An understanding of poverty is crucial to understanding the future of Southeast Europe. This paper attempts to untangle aspects of this complicated issue in the context of contemporary Southeast European economies. The first section discusses the relationship of economic transition to poverty and economic inequality in the region. The second surveys the limited available data that supports these links. The third discusses the unavoidable ambiguities of poverty in an economic policy context, followed by a section that treats poverty issues in Southeast European transition economies in light of their growth perspectives. The final section offers some tentative conclusions on the role poverty issues will play in the future of these economies.

The Inter-American Development Bank's Assessment of Structural Adjustment: Questionable Theory and Pre-ordained Policy

In recent annual reports, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has analyzed the impact of the era of structural adjustment on the economy and society in Latin America. The reports are at odds in their analyses of the reform era's successes, as seen in reduced inflation and modest economic growth, as compared to its failures, as seen in rising poverty and income inequality, falling real wages and lower educational attainment. In spite of the conflicting evidence, the IDB concludes that neoliberal reforms need to be deepened. Such a stance, it will be shown, leads the IDB into frequent contradiction and tautology.

Globalization and economic disparities in East and Southeast Asia: New dilemmas

The once high-performing East Asian economies were suddenly rocked by the 1997 financial crisis. This raised the question of whether the crisis signals the end of the 'Asian development model' and provides further evidence of the 'globalization of poverty'. This article attempts to answer this question by examining the connection between liberalization (and deregulation) and the pattern of poverty reduction and income inequalities in four East and Southeast Asian economies severly affected by the late 1990s crisis. Based on the findings, it contests the view that globalization means the end of the role of the state. Instead, it is argued that, while some states are playing the role of promoters of the globalization process, others are redefining and resisting globalization. The crisis also has drawn attention to a possible third policy option, which would involve the revitalization of the regulatory role of the state, greater attention to social issues and a more national approach to economic management.

Educational and Income Inequality in Malaysia

The poverty rate in Malaysia has dropped tremendously, whereas income inequality has followed an upward and downward trend. Beginning 1957/58 until 1990, Malaysia has completed one cycle of Kuznets Inverted‐U Hypothesis. However, since the 1990s income inequality is beginning to move upward again. One of the major concerned by the government in line to reduce poverty and income inequality is the role of education. Inequality in educational attainment may contribute inequality in income distribution. This paper attempts to analyze trend of income inequality and poverty in Malaysia. The main objectives of this paper are to look at the distribution of employment by educational status and the relationship between educational attainments amongst employees with income inequality.

INTRODUCTION: Economic growth, poverty and income inequality in the Asia-Pacific region

INTRODUCTION: Economic growth, poverty and income inequality in the Asia-Pacific region

Poverty and economic inequality in industrialized Western society

Poverty and economic inequality in industrialized Western society

The European 'Welfare Mix': Institutional Configuration and Distributive Outcome in Sweden and the European Union. A Longitudinal and Comparative Perspective

This paper explores the institutional configuration (the three welfare delivery systems: market, welfare state, family) and its distributional correlates (income inequality; poverty rates; inequality related to social cleavages such as social class, generation, gender, region and family). The analysis has a twofold perspective: comparative (comparing 14 EU member states) and longitudinal (comparing Sweden 1975--1995), using nations as statistical units. The European union appears to be divided in three distinct and homogeneous clusters: • a Nordic cluster (Sweden, Denmark, Finland) exhibiting large social expenses, high labour market participation and weak family ties. Its distributional features are low income inequality, poverty rates and class inequality, but high levels of inequality between generations; • a southern cluster (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal) characterised by lower welfare provisions, low employment, but strong traditional families. Its distributional features are high levels of income inequality, poverty and class inequality, but low levels of generational inequality; • a central European cluster in intermediate position. UK joins the southern cluster with high levels of income inequality, poverty and class inequality.

The management of policy making and implementation: Conceptualising development

“The manager is the man who decides among alternative choices. He must decide which choice he believes will lead to a certain desired objective or set of objectives. But his decision is not an abstract one, because it creates a type of reality”, so wrote C. West Churchman [2, p. 17]. Neither, of course, is this decision objective and value-free. In fact, the decisions made, and the types of realities created by them, are liable to depend on the manager’s own reality, whether he acknowledges that fact or not. Among the tricky aspects of a manager’s reality are his assumptions – not those that are explicitly formulated, but those that Gouldner called “background assumptions” [5]. These assumptions are usually taken for granted, yet they decisively affect a manager’s choices, especially inasmuch as they determine the perspective from which a problem or situation is viewed. This point has far-reaching implications for the management of development. Today, much policy making in the development area fails to make it to implementation. Why? Because it is based on certain unacknowledged background assumptions, through which policy makers create a kind of reality that is out of touch with, or too far removed from, the experienced reality of those on whom the policies and decisions impinge. The difficulties may become apparent at the implementation stage, when policy objectives meet with opposition or disbelief. Or when it becomes clear that harmful consequences are associated with their implementation. Or, again, even at the formulation stage, when the failure to conceptualise the experienced reality of development thwarts the inclusion of implementation as part of the policy formulation process. Two assumptions, in particular, often lurk in the background of policy making for development. The first assumption is that development is a matter of attaining certain levels (for instance, reaching a minimum level of per capita Gross National Product). This assumption has a long history and lies at the basis of the earlier monolithic indices of development, such as the GNP, as well as the more recent composite measures such as the Human Development Index (which takes into account education levels, longevity, as well as GNP) [9]. The second assumption is that development is primarily a material (e.g., economic) issue. Two practical results stem from these assumptions: (1) the management of development is viewed as a macroeconomic concern, and (2) international comparisons serve to evaluate performance. It is time, however, to shake off both these simplifying assumptions. Not only do they not hold up against the complexity of development, they may also help to defeat the purpose of development itself. For example, a macroeconomically healthy country is not necessarily linked to the eradication of poverty or excessive inequality. More specifically, the attainment of a certain level of GNP, education, or health care does not guarantee the reduction of violence, the sustenance of creative intelligence and constructive social dialogue, or the implementation of policies that engage values generally recognized as vitally important [4]. Moreover, by making development the object of international comparisons rather than an issue in and of itself, imitation rather than management is encouraged. The reality of development forces us to see that, contrary to these assumptions, development is an ongoing process (rather than a matter of levels to be attained) – one that is multi-dimensional in nature and,

Environment, Technology, and the Social Articulation of Risk in West African Agriculture

two preoccupations are not mutually exclusive. Superficially, they share the common concern that liberalization is insufficient to resolve the subSaharan food crisis. At a deeper level, the two preoccupations are more intimately interrelated via the correspondence that links initial wealth to risk exposure and to behavior in both production and asset accumulation. A number of recent empirical studies of risk in low-income countries find that households are able to employ their accumulated assets to smooth consumption in the face of adverse agricultural production shocks. 3 Missing from these studies is explicit attention to the fact that the effective risk from which households insulate consumption is not that of production shocks directly, but of those shocks as socially articulated by institutions and property rights. This article explores the creation and distribution of effective risk, estimating how environment, technology, and social factors interact to construct it endogenously. 4 Put differently, this article develops the notion that the risk from which households ex post try to insulate consumption is not an immutable natural or technical feature of the landscape. As Michael Watt’s contrast between precolonial and colonial Nigeria forcefully demonstrates, the effective risk presented by an unchanged set of environmental and technical circumstances can

Jobs for All, Economic Justice, and the Challenge of Welfare "Reform"

Jobs for All at decent wages is not the only strategy for reducing poverty and economic inequality, but it is more desirable and more consonant with American values than a primary strategy of direct income redistribution through government benefits. To make jobs the primary strategy for people of working age, however, is not to overlook the need for certain types of income support in good times and in bad, and the important economic functions of the welfare state. Current welfare "reform" poses as a work strategy but is the very antithesis of jobs for all because it creates job seekers rather than jobs and will increase unemployment and lower wages. Economic and social benefits of full employment are identified, and criticisms of the strategy--that many current jobs are risky, boring and poorly paid--are addressed. The abiding and new obstacles to full employment are acknowledged, their seriousness assessed, and means for overcoming them proposed. The author concludes that the obstacles to jobs for all are primarily political rather than economic, and shows how the National Jobs for All Coalition is attempting to overcome them and to build a new movement for economic justice.

Effects of the subsidy removal of fertilizer on rural poverty in north Sulawesi, Indonesia

Examines the effects of fertilizer subsidy on the rural poor in Indonesia. Discusses the factors which lead to rural poverty and measures which have been undertaken to combat these. Describes in detail a survey undertaken in two villages to establish the effects of the removal of the fertilizer subsidy. Concludes that there has been an increase in poverty and income inequality since its removal and suggests ways of remedying this problem.