Inequality In Rural Areas Research Articles

Individual- and area-level socioeconomic inequalities in diabetes mellitus in Saskatchewan between 2007 and 2012: a cross-sectional analysis.

Improving our understanding of social inequalities may improve prevention and treatment efforts for diabetes mellitus. We examined the association between individual- and area-level socioeconomic measures and physician-diagnosed diabetes in Saskatchewan over time. In this cross-sectional study, we linked health administrative data with individual-level socioeconomic data from the Canadian Community Health Survey and area-level data from the 2006 Canadian census. We used general linear mixed-models regression to analyze the effect of each factor, controlling for geographic and demographic measures. Area-level deprivation was associated with medically diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus after adjustment for the individual-level factors of age, sex, household income and education. Individuals residing in areas ranked in the least deprived quintile had a lower likelihood of diabetes than those in the most deprived quintile (odds ratio 0.40, 95% confidence interval 0.18-0.88). However, this disparity existed only in urban areas. This result may reflect less pronounced health inequalities in rural areas, greater socioeconomic heterogeneity, larger geographic units or some combination of these factors. Individual- and area-level socioeconomic factors were associated with the likelihood of medically diagnosed diabetes; however, the strength of this association varied between urban and rural communities. Acknowledgement of area-level deprivation as a modifiable risk factor related to the prevalence of diabetes is important in the development of effective interventions for urban, but not rural, areas.

Nierówności i ubóstwo ekonomiczne na obszarach wiejskich w Polsce

Celem badań było przedstawienie problemów zagadnienia nierówności i ubóstwa ekonomicznego na obszarach wiejskich w Polsce w latach 2010-2016. Przyjęto hipotezę badawczą zakładającą, iż wysoki poziom nierówności dochodowych prowadzi do wysokiego poziomu ubóstwa relatywnego. Wyniki badań pokazały, iż pomiędzy nierównościami dochodowymi mierzonymi współczynnikiem Giniego a ubóstwem relatywnym na obszarach wiejskich istnieje silna dodatnia zależność. Nie zaobserwowano natomiast żadnego związku pomiędzy zmiennymi dla grupy zawodowej rolników. Można zatem przyjąć, że wzrost nierówności dochodowych na obszarach wiejskich powoduje wzrost ubóstwa relatywnego, ale zależność ta nie dotyczyła ludności, której głównym źródłem utrzymania było gospodarstwo rolne.

Una aproximación descriptiva a la desigualdad socio-territorial en ámbitos rurales del Noroeste Argentino en la primera década del siglo XXI

A partir de las últimas décadas del siglo XX, el sector rural del Noroeste Argentino fue escenario de profundas transformaciones territoriales y productivas ligadas a la expansión de actividades extractivas. Los efectos de estas actividades incluyen acaparamientos, privatización y concentración de tierras, generando un aumento de la desigualdad socio-territorial. El objetivo de este trabajo es, pues, analizar la desigualdad socio-territorial en las áreas rurales del Noroeste Argentino en la primera década del siglo XXI. Se analizaron fundamentalmente cuatro dimensiones: pobreza, educación, calidad del hábitat y estructura agraria. Para el análisis de las tres primeras dimensiones se utilizaron datos provenientes de los censos nacionales de población 2001 y 2010, y de la Dirección de Estadísticas e Información en Salud. Para el análisis de las transformaciones territoriales y productivas se utilizaron datos de los censos nacionales agropecuarios 1988, 2002 y 2008, y del sistema integrado de información agropecuaria. Los resultados nos permiten observar que, mientras las dimensiones educación y calidad del hábitat mejoraron durante la primera década del siglo XXI, aún persisten condiciones de alta pobreza y vulnerabilidad, en un contexto de una estructura agraria progresivamente desigual.

An Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of expense and Income of Rural Households in Iran

An Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of expense and Income of Rural Households in Iran

Multi‐Scale Meta‐Governance Strategies for Addressing Social Inequality in Resource Dependent Regions

AbstractSocial inequality in resource‐dependent regions is a growing problem. Increasingly both state and private actors are acting as meta‐governors to address the issue. In this article, we focus on housing inequality as ‘the canary in the coalmine’ for broader social inequality. While affordable housing has been the subject of growing attention in urban scholarship, relatively few studies have considered the governance of affordable housing in rural regions. We report on a case analysis of affordable housing governance in the Gladstone‐Surat Region, a traditional agricultural area of Australia that has experienced a dramatic increase in housing inequality due to significant coal seam gas development in recent years. We show that networked arrangements for affordable housing delivery were the product of strategic policy structuring, resourcing, and hands‐off framing by the state government. Private meta‐governance was exercised only in relation to process management forms of meta‐governance, with private companies facilitating local ‘arenas’ for stakeholder discussion and connecting stakeholders in a synergistic manner. The dynamics of the case‐study examined demonstrate that meta‐governance in rural regions is not just about coordinating and mobilising horizontal (e.g., regional) cooperation, but about coalescing action within multiscale ‘exogenous’ networks and structures. These findings have important implications for future efforts to address social inequality in rural areas.

ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES IN RURAL AREAS OF POLAND IN THE LIGHT OF ACHIEVING COHESION POLICY OBJECTIVES

The article presents social inequalities in rural areas in Poland in the light of the objectives of cohesion policy. Income was analyzed in households belonging to a particular socio-economic group and depending on the place of residence (city-village). Particularly during the analyzes, a quantitative measure of inequality was measured in the form of a Gini coefficient. The article presents the dynamics of changes in 2006-2015. Income situation in rural households and farmers improves, but this trend is not reflected in the decline in income inequality in rural populations.

Height inequalities and their change trends in China during 1985\u20132010: results from 6 cross-sectional surveys on children and adolescents aged 7\u201318\xa0years

BackgroundGreat health inequalities have been reported in China over the past few years. Height has been used as an important parameter of health and it may also be distributed unequally in different regions. By studying height data of Chinese children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years, we analyze height inequalities and their change trends during 1985–2010.MethodsOn the base of data from 6 successive cross-sectional surveys of the Chinese National Survey on Student’s Constitution and Health(CNSSCH) conducted in 1985,1991,1995,2000,2005 and 2010, we calculated difference of height for children and adolescents aged 7–18 years in different regions. Coefficients of Variation (CVs) of height were computed in urban and rural areas during 1985–2010.ResultsGreat height difference existed between urban and rural, eastern and western, Shanghai and Guizhou children and adolescents aged 7–18 years. The urban-rural difference averagely decreased from 4.24 cm to 2.85 cm for boys and 3.72 cm to 1.31 cm for girls since 1985. Urban-rural difference tend to be more obvious in the poorer provinces, which has short mean statures. From 1985 to 2010, height difference became larger in eastern-western and Shanghai-Guizhou which represented the comparison between the richest and poorest regions. We also found there was a larger height inequality in rural areas compared with that in urban areas, and difference in rural subjects increased greater than their urban peers in eastern-western and Shanghai-Guizhou.ConclusionsThere were obvious height inequalities in China and the urban-rural difference narrowed, while increasing differences happened between regions with different socioeconomic levels especially in their rural residents. More attention should be paid to these differences and policies and strategies should be developed to reduce inequalities in height.

Tele-pharmacy in rural Scotland: a proof of concept study.

Technology enables medical services to be provided to rural communities. This proof of concept study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of delivering community pharmacy services (CPS; including advice, sale of over-the-counter products and dispensing of prescriptions) by tele-technology (the Telepharmacy Robotic Supply Service (TPRSS)) to a rural population in Scotland. Data collection included the following: postal surveys to local residents; focus groups/ interviews with pharmacists, other healthcare professionals (HCPs) and service users, at baseline and follow-up; TPRSS logs. Interviews/focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Descriptive statistics were reported for survey data. Qualitative results: Pre-installation: residents expressed satisfaction with current pharmacy access. HCPs believed the TPRSS would improve pharmacy access and reduce pressure on GPs. Concerns included costs, confidentiality, patient safety and 'fear' of technology. Post-installation: residents and pharmacy staff were positive, finding the service easy to use. Quantitative results: Pre-installation: almost half the respondents received regular prescription medicines and a third used an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine at least monthly. More than 80% (124/156) reported they would use the TPRSS. There was low awareness of the minor ailment service (MAS; 38%; 59/156). Post-installation: prescription ordering and OTC medicine purchase were used most frequently; the video link was used infrequently. Reasons for non-use were lack of need (36%; 40/112) and linkage to only one pharmacy (31%; 35/112). Community pharmacy services delivered remotely using tele-technology are feasible and acceptable. A larger study should be undertaken to confirm the potential of the TPRSS to reduce health inequalities in rural areas.

How War Shaped Egypt's National Bread Loaf

This article examines the consolidation of a regime of government-subsidized wheat bread in Egypt during the Second World War, in tandem with the development of the Egyptian state of emergency and a military courts system. It investigates how landowner resistance and fertilizer shortages brought Egypt to the brink of famine in 1941, and how Anglo-Egyptian diplomacy negotiated a regime of mandatory government grain requisition. It draws on Egyptian news media, bureaucratic reports, and military court cases to show resistance to and the social effects of this policy, including the acceleration of income inequality in rural areas and a huge increase in wheat consumption in cities. The article argues the long-term success of this regime depended on both the improvement of surveillance and coercive technocracy mediated through the military courts and the naturalization of public attitudes toward consuming “mixed” bread and toward the black market and military courts themselves.

Non-Farm Income and Income Inequality: An Empirical Study Based on the Income Distribution of Farmers in Liaoning and Jilin Provinces

Non-farm activities play a more and more important role in the household income of rural areas. Whether the non-agricultural activities can help to reduce the income inequality? Research and measurement of 816 samples of farmer income in Liaoning, Jilin Province based on the distribution of non-agricultural income in rural areas to find out the family income, according to the inspection to explore, to promote rural non-agricultural income contribution income inequality. Considering the substitution relationship between agricultural income and non-agricultural income, the non-agricultural income is taken as an alternative income of agricultural income, and is involved in the decision-making of farmers. The results show that compared with the rich families, nonfarm income can increase the income level of the poor families, so as to reduce the degree of income inequality in rural areas. Improving the rural infrastructure, strengthening vocational and technical education, strengthening the skills training, and improving the level of public services, to improve the ability of poor farmers to participate in non-agricultural activities has an important role. At the same time, it is also helpful to improve the contribution of non-agricultural activities in the economic development of poor rural areas.

Exploring Socio-Cultural Factors of Educational Gender Inequality in Rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Each year of schooling increases an individual’s output by 4-7 percent (Basic Education Coalition, 2004). There exist a large number of studies establishing that gender differentials exist in education in developing countries (Orazem and King, 2007: United Nations, 2005). This study is an effort to investigate into various socio-cultural factors contributes educational gender inequality in rural areas of Khyber Pakhtukhwa. This study has been conducted in rural areas of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtukhwa, Pakistan. This study is framed under qualitative research design. Purposive sampling technique has been adopted for selection of samples from the population of interest. The information has been collected through an interview guide in face to face conversation with the respondents. Further, two focus group discussion were organized to gain further insight to the research questions under concern. The collected information has been transcribed, narrated and linked with literary information in order to extract authentic findings. Findings of the study indicates that various socio-cultural contributes educational gender inequality in rural areas of Khyber Pakhtukhwa, Pakistan. Families and parents invest more in boys schooling when compared to female schooling (e.g. sending boys to highly paid private schools, taking better care for boys in educational facilities such as transport, bag, books, and pocket money). Parents prefer male children schooling because of the better economic returns and perception that male are future of the family. Parents are unable to invest more female education because of low income and poverty. Religion plays an eminent role in restraining parents to school there female children leading to educational gender inequality. Further, in traditional society like the study area people do not consider female schooling and education as a good practice. Job market significantly influences parental perception and response towards female schooling in the study area. Lastly, low and sub-ordiante status as well as the status and role of women being sister, mother and wife leads to educational gender inequality in the study area.

Demographic and Labor Potential as the Factors of Agroecotourism Development in Belarus (on the Example of Brest and Grodno Regions)

In the following article demographic development is analysed as a factor of agroecotourism development in Belarus with special emphasis on Brest and Grodno Regions as areas with the highest potential for rural tourism progress and expansion. The potential role for rural tourism development of demographic potential, labor resources and settlement system is revealed. The demographic development of Belarusian rural areas is presented for the period of 1970–2013. The article aims to work out the typology of districts in accordance with peculiarities of demographic development during this period. The article also aims to trace the main factors of demographic spatial inequality in rural areas in Belarus.

Investigating the Efficacy of Non-agricultural Activities in Rural Settlements’ Economic and Social Development (Case Study: Firouzeh Mines in Khorasan Razavi)

Investigating the Efficacy of Non-agricultural Activities in Rural Settlements’ Economic and Social Development (Case Study: Firouzeh Mines in Khorasan Razavi)

The Dynamics of Income Inequality in Rural Areas of Nigeria

The Dynamics of Income Inequality in Rural Areas of Nigeria

The Impact of the CAP on Agriculture and Rural Areas of EU Member States

The article presents the main aspects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) while also exploring the contextual parameters and impact on agriculture and rural areas of the European Union (EU) member states. CAP is one of the most important policies of the EU, having for decades occupied the major share of the region’s budget and had profound effects on farm structures, agricultural employment and rural areas, as well as wider economic, social, political, environmental and cultural implications, for old and new member states. The article is organized in five sections. The introductory section offers a brief account of the basic dimensions of the newly reformed CAP, which suggest how the CAP is destined to evolve in the near future. The next section is dedicated to the analysis of farm structures, agricultural and regional employment, agricultural incomes and regional development. The third section deals with the evolution of the CAP objectives, as well as the drivers connected to the recent CAP reforms. Next, there is a comprehensive presentation of the CAP impact on agriculture and rural areas of the member states. Finally, a number of conclusions are drawn regarding the path dependency of the CAP and its continued inefficiency on lowering social and spatial inequalities in rural areas.

Poverty and inequality in rural India

Through a study in two taluks in the State of Gujarat, this article looks at agrarian systems and their relationship with rural poverty, an essential component of “India’s spatial divide”. Based on in-depth fieldwork, it confirms the extreme poverty that is rampant in the Indian countryside, in a state that nonetheless shows a high growth rate. It reveals how this poverty can be explained by an unequal distribution of land and water, but also of added value that is rooted in social relations of dependency, which have fundamentally changed very little over the course of the last decades. Non-agricultural activities, however important they may be, do nothing to change these inequalities. In the light of this work, the agricultural development policies targeting a redressal of inequalities in rural areas seem more necessary than ever.

Colonialism and Armed Conflict in the Indian Countryside

This paper explores the relationship between British colonial rule and contemporary conflict in India. We argue that colonialism generated deep-seated grievances among tribal and low-caste communities that have ultimately resulted in armed conflict in rural areas. We identify three mechanisms that have given rise to conflict. First, the British exacerbated land inequality in rural areas by granting land ownership rights to zamindars and commandeering forest lands upon which tribal populations rely for sustenance. Second, the British state reified social inequalities in tribal and low-caste areas through their systematic categorization and ranking of caste and tribal communities. Finally, the British instituted a new bureaucratic apparatus that cemented these social inequalities through administrative practice, thereby fostering distrust of India’s legal system among low-caste and tribal groups. The hierarchical social and exploitative economic relationships that originated in the colonial period have had long-term deleterious effects on political stability in the countryside. We test this argument by looking at data on the current Naxalite conflict, which has been fueled by the grievances of tribal and low-caste groups. We analyze conflict outcomes in 595 districts from 2004-2009, specifically comparing areas that were under British rule with those that remained under the rule of native kings.

GENDER INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION IN CHINA: A META‐REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Although there is evidence that there was gender inequality in China's education system in the 1980s, the literature in China has mixed evidence on improvements in gender inequality in educational attainment over the past three decades. Some suggest gender inequality is still severe; others report progress. We seek to understand the progress China has made (if any) in reducing gender inequality in education since the 1980s. To meet this goal, we use a meta‐analysis approach which provides a new quantitative review of a relatively large volume of empirical literature on gender educational differentials. This article analyzes differences across both time and space, and also across different grade levels and ethnicities. Our results indicate that gender inequality in educational attainment still exists, but it has been narrowing over time. Moreover, it varies by area (rural versus urban) and grade level. There is nearly no significant gender inequality in the case of girls in urban areas or in the case of the 9 years of compulsory education (primary school and junior high school). Girls, however, still face inequality in rural areas (although inequality is falling over time) and when they reach high school or beyond. (JEL I24)

Rural Livelihood Trajectories Around a “Bull Market” in Kyrgyzstan

Transhumant agropastoralism is a major concern in debates about economic development and food security in Kyrgyzstan. Using the concept of the “agropastoral system,” this study emphasizes the diversity of existing family farming systems and agropastoral livelihoods at the regional level and their various economic perspectives in a constantly evolving environment. Qualitative and empirical research conducted in the eastern part of Chuy oblast led to establishment of a typology of household farming systems, based on their resources and strategies, showing the agro-economic logic in the increasing socioeconomic inequalities in rural areas. Four farming systems were identified: deprived households involved in kitchen gardening and daily farm labor, risky small crop farming systems that increasingly rely on off-farm jobs to secure their livelihoods, sustainable dairy farming systems, and dynamic meat producers. In the context of increasing demand for animal products in urban areas, the position of each farming system in dairy and beef marketing reveals its ability to seize economic opportunities in the agricultural sector and in competition with off-farm activities.

Class, Power and Inequality in Rural Areas: Beyond Social Exclusion?

AbstractThis article reviews approaches to the study of poverty, inequality and social exclusion in rural areas and seeks to relate these to new directions in class analysis and to ideas of place and hyper‐mobility. The article is primarily conceptual, drawing on Bourdievian approaches to class analysis and suggesting a new research agenda on class and inequality in rural areas. Specifically, the article argues that there is a need to research not only the ways in which those in similar social positions construct place and rurality, but also how these discursive and symbolic constructions are enlisted in class formation and domination. How does rurality itself become a vehicle for increasing and storing inequality and thence for its intergenerational transmission?