Out Of Poverty Research Articles

Bi-polar development: A theoretical discursive commentary on land titling and cultural destruction in Kenya

Development economist Hernando de Soto Polar has effectively advocated for property rights in the Third World, as his ideas have influenced the policies of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and United Nations Development Programme. He envisions land titling as a means of lifting the poor out of poverty. I argue that his classical liberal interpretations of property and the good life are dangerously naive. One can see the dangers of de Soto’s imperialist and one-dimensional vision after considering the cultural destruction that results from his brand of development in pastoral Kenya. Also, this article demands a reframing of standardized development approaches. It argues that the conventional view is prone to creating unstable, culturally hegemonic relationships between the government and entrepreneurs, and the people of the land. Asymmetrical lawfare is another nondemocratic feature of de Soto’s development. This article emphasizes that Kenyan pastoralists are not inherently vulnerable people but that they have been rendered vulnerable by society. Lastly, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is the basis for an alternative to de Soto’s development design. UNDRIP was a hard-fought legal protection for the world’s indigenous peoples that makes human dignity central to development. The Global North and Global South produce differing visions of development. This article points to Kenya as an example of how the Global North’s vision has fundamentally failed because it disenfranchises pastoralists—the very people policymakers and policy supporters claim it is intended to benefit.

Theories of Poverty: A Critical Review

The study reviewed literature on the theories of poverty. The theories reviewed included theory of individual deficiencies, theory of cultural beliefs, theory of economic, political and social distortions, theory of geographical disparities, and theory of cumulative and cyclical dependencies. The theories were analysed, criticised and measures that will bring the poor out of poverty were recommended. Some of the recommended solutions included: encouraging the poor to embrace self-help strategies, replacing the culture with one that encourages hard work and investment, changing the system for the better, improving infrastructure and local industries competitiveness, and developing comprehensive programmes that will help the poor to be self-sufficient. Key words: Poverty, Cultural beliefs, Individual deficiencies, Geographical disparities, Economic, political, and structural f actors, psychological theories, sociological theories. DOI : 10.7176/JPID/48-08

Rural Development Policy: What does Ethiopia Need to Ascertain from China Rural Development Policy to Eradicate Rural Poverty?

The struggle against poverty is directly linked to saving rural people. Ethiopia and China have been implementing rural development policies and strategies to lead millions of rural poor out of poverty. The study investigates Ethiopia’s and China’s rural development policies since the major rural reform periods. The author utilizes data from World Bank (WB) and Food Association Organization (FAO) to scrutinize the consequence of rural development policies towards rural poverty eradication in China and Ethiopia. The paper also describes the literature and based on the data, a series of normative analyses examine the interaction among rural development policy, rural people, and poverty in both nations. The finding of our study strongly urges that the remarkable achievements of China in the huge reduction of rural poverty is basically due to the post-reform commitment of the Communist Party of China towards target-specific, research-based, achievement-oriented and pro-poor rural development policy and implementation. Ethiopia needs to develop and implement bottom-up demand based, top-down incentive oriented, target-specific, research based and pro-poor rural reform strategies to lead millions of rural people from multi-causal poverty. Formulating and implementing target specific, research-based, achievement-oriented and pro-poor rural development policies and strategies could play a substantial role to eradicate rural poverty in developing countries.

Corruption and Combating Corruption: A Framework for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development in Post-Independent Africa

Abstract Since the introduction of democratic reforms in post-independent Africa, most states have been battling corruption to guarantee sustainable peace, human rights and development. Because of the devastating effects of corruption on the realisation of peace, human rights and sustainable development, the world at large and Africa in particular, has strived to fight against corruption with several states adopting national anti-corruption legislation and specialised bodies. Despite international and national efforts to combat corruption, the practice still remains visible in most African states without any effective accountability or transparency in decision-making processes by the various institutions charged with corruption issues. This has further hindered global peace, the effective enjoyment of human rights and sustainable development in the continent. This paper aims to examine the concept of corruption and combating corruption and its impact on peace, human rights and sustainable development in post-independent Africa with a particular focus on Cameroon. It reveals that despite international and national efforts, corruption still remains an obstacle to global peace in Africa requiring a more proactive means among states to achieve economic development. The paper takes into consideration specific socio-economic challenges posed by corruption and the way forward for a united Africa to combat corruption to pull the continent out of poverty, hunger and instability, and to transform it into a better continent for peace, human rights and sustainable development.

Life expectancy and poverty

Life expectancy and poverty

Targeted poverty alleviation and land policy innovation: Some practice and policy implications from China

Poverty is the common challenge faced by the international community. The human society has never ceased to struggle against poverty. China was once the developing country with the largest rural poor population in the world. Facing the decreasing effect of economic input to poverty reduction, land policy innovations could contribute to promoting poverty alleviation, particularly in China, where the defects in policy making is regarded as a major factor in rural poverty. This study explores the institutional innovation of China’s poverty alleviation since 2013 and further reveals the mechanism behind land policy innovation promoting the targeted poverty alleviation based on a case study of Songjiagou village of Fuping county, Hebei province. We found that the Chinese central government has innovated the mechanism for the TPA to lift the remaining rural poor out of poverty by 2020 as scheduled. Implementing the TPA could confront the labor, capital and land dilemmas. Combined land policy innovations and land engineering with the ex situ poverty alleviation relocation (ESPAR) can help to break the institutional barriers. We argue that land policy innovations and the ESPAR not only contributes to poverty reduction and improve living conditions of the poor, but also needs to guard against its potential risk. These findings can provide policymakers with a sound scientific basis for poverty reduction planning and decisions in China and other poor countries.

Social Function of “Rice for Poor” on Poor Family

The research was conducted to provide certainty “rice for poor” program can provide social protection to the poor. Some of the conditions that must be comply with the objektives of “rice for poor” program were right in target, amount, quality, price, time, and administration, better known as 6 T. The research result showed that they found irregularities such as Bagito case (Shared each other equally), change in unit targets, indicators of poverty, and a lack of valid data, so the indicators of 6 T success yet to be realized. Referring to the problems mentioned above, it was clear that to achieve the 6 T indicators in”rice for poor” program itself still can not be achieved, that was still far to the main objective of social protection that should cover: to prevent and reduce the risk of human experience to avoid severe and prolonged misery; to increase the willingness of vulnerable groups to face and out of poverty, misery and social-economic insecurity; to allow the disadvantaged groups to have a dignified standard of living so that poverty will not be passed on from one generation to another. To achieve the desired objectives needed for improvement in both social protection and distribution of “rice for poor” quota mechanism, data problem, poverty indicators, the efforts to provide social protection to low-income people need to be reformed, especially with the meaning of social protection associated with the quota of rice for the poor, rice quality, delivery mechanisms, the problem of data, anda indicators of poverty.

Panel evidence on the impact of tourism growth on poverty, poverty gap and income inequality

Using a panel of 13 tourism-intensive economies for the period 1995–2012, this paper shows that rising growth in tourism which is proxied by tourism receipts to GDP ratio has an impact on poverty conditional on the poverty measure used. Using a panel Vector Autoregression method, there is little evidence to suggest that growth in tourism reduces headcount poverty. However, the poverty gap measure shows that the amount of money needed to help the poor out of poverty is significantly reduced. Based on different types of Gini coefficient, the results fail to find an improvement in income inequality resulting from tourism growth. Alternative measures such as relative poverty and poverty gap may be considered to better assess the impact of tourism on the poor.

A New Era of Pollution Progress in Urban China?

Over the last 30 years, China's economy has boomed. This trend has lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty but it has also sharply increased local, regional, and global pollution levels. We look at the rise in air pollution over recent decades, and the perhaps surprising finding that in many of China's urban areas, levels of particulates (of less than 10 microns) have been decreasing during the last 10 to 15 years. We then turn to the costs and tradeoffs of air pollution, including costs to human health, reductions in worker productivity, and how people are seeking to reduce their exposure to pollution as shown by compensating differentials in real estate prices and purchases of masks and air filters. We discuss how rising incomes tend to raise the demand for environmental amenities and thus increase political pressure for environmental protection, and then we turn to the policy tools that China has used to reduce pollution. We conclude by arguing that as China's government is preparing for an additional 300 million people to move to urban areas over the next 30 years, it will have a number of opportunities for China to reduce pollution through a shift from manufacturing to services, along with various steps to improve energy efficiency and resource conservation. Overall, it seems that China is on track to improve its environmental performance in the years ahead.

What families in poverty consider supportive: welfare strategies of parents with young children in relation to (child and family) social work

AbstractIn current European Welfare states, Child and Family Social Work has been assigned a pivotal role in constructing a route out of (child) poverty. The direction, processes and outcomes of these interventions are, however, rarely negotiated with the families involved. Based on a retrospective biographical research with parents of young children who experienced financial difficulties over time, this paper therefore seeks to uncover and understand how parents give meaning to welfare which strategies they accordingly develop and how these perspectives and welfare strategies interact with Child and Family Social Work interventions. We aim to acquire knowledge about how interventions are constructed, interpreted and being used as potentially supportive levers in realizing the well‐being of parents and children in poverty situations and explore how they may influence families' routes out of poverty. Drawing on Lister's analytical framework of agency within the bounds of structural constraints, our research provides insights in the essentially complex, multi‐layered and paradoxical nature of support and suggests that support cannot simply be perceived as synonymous to mobility out of poverty.

Strategic Agricultural Commodity Value Chains in Africa for Increased Food: The Regional Approach for Food Security

The challenge Africa faces the most is how to feed the 2.4 billion people in 2050. This will require a transformational agriculture. Africa doesn’t need subsistence agriculture, but rather agriculture linked to the market where market demand and the consuming habits are taken in consideration. Agriculture evolves in an environment where small holders are linked to markets (national and regional), where economies of complementarity and economies of scale are taken advantage of by producers and private sector. In short, Africa will need a paradigm shift to industrialise and commercialise its agriculture sector in order to increase food production, and income and to create jobs in and outside the sector. Africa needs agribusiness and agro-industries to domesticate the benefits of the sector, to create wealth in the sector and retain that wealth in the continent. Agricultural commodities regional value chains for increased food should be the target for Africa. The continent remains the region with the highest prevalence of under-nourishment. Since agriculture remains the mainstay of most African economies except the mineral producers, the sector deserves a close attention from leaders. It accounts for 65% of employment and 40% of Africa’s export earnings and accounts for 17% of the GDP. This shows how important the sector is. Agriculture needs to be seen as a conduit for farmers to get connected to markets, a conduit for revenue, for jobs and for transformation. Africa needs to come back on the international scene as food sufficient continent and even food exporter. This can be achieved only with a stable, productive agricultural resource base. Thus, achieving and sustaining food security and economic prosperity in Africa will require significant efforts to modernize the continent’s agriculture sector through injection of agribusiness and agro-industries and through the application of science and technology in agriculture. In essence, agriculture needs to be viewed as knowledge based entrepreneurial activity. Smart investments in agriculture will have multiplier effects for the whole economy and hence induce prosperity to other sectors. In recent years, a renewed focus on agriculture has been evident in policy and development agendas across the African continent. This paper outlines the status of agriculture, agribusiness and agro-industries in Africa, their role in the agenda of agricultural transformation and economic transformation and the focus on regional value chain to increase food production, transformation and trade. The paper adopts a new thinking in agriculture, which reflects a regional value chain approach. The author covers such issues as: need for agricultural transformation, the role of value chain in agricultural sector, the need for regional value chain for increased income and increased food, the role of markets and the common denominator of all, the regional integration to push forward the African agriculture agenda. Evidence shows that it is agricultural growth, through its leverage effects on the rest of the economy that typically enables poor countries, poor regions and ultimately poor households to take the first steps toward economic transformation. Therefore agricultural productivity, at the small holder’s level, has the potential to lift millions of Africa’s vulnerable out of poverty and provide sustainable jobs. Other factors, namely “the rapid urbanization” and “increased population growth”, are quoted to be of critical importance. Africa population is projected to double, attaining the 2.3 billion people mark over the next 40 years representing half of the globe’s total population. This could trigger competition for resources and can have devastating effects on natural resources if not rightly channelled.

Reconsidering development by reflecting on climate change

Reconsidering development by reflecting on climate change means rethinking development goals, more than pursuing climate targets. Much analysis in the development–climate literature has framed development as a co-benefit, while the objective has been climate stabilization. This misses the point that development drives emissions, not vice versa. A different approach must address low-emission technologies, but also the high-emission parts of ‘development’. Politically, climate change must be understood as a development problem. In this conception, a key task for climate policy is to explore different development paths, with the difference in emissions being a result. Development goals need to be represented as explicit objectives, both in analytical modelling and as political goals. Methods that treat climate policy as a self-control mechanism in the development system, or back-cast from development goals, need to be improved. The article further considers levers to change development paths, considering lessons on how to influence change in complex systems. The obsession of the existing economic order is with economic growth and development; what needs to be considered is the quality of development and what it means to live well. A social contract for low-carbon development requires the rich to pay for mitigation, use less, and assist the poor; lift the poor out of poverty; and change the aspirations of the middle class. Such a contract requires thinking beyond short-term political and economic time frames, with much longer-term thinking and vision.

Poverty Study Using Nonparametric Estimation of Recurrent Survival Function

The article analyses households’ poverty and nonpoverty duration. For this purpose survival function estimators for recurrent events were used: Wang-Chang estimator and two estimators proposed by Pena, Strawderman and Hollander (IIDPLE and FRMLE). We can conclude that survival probability for a long time out of poverty is greater than in the case of survival in poverty. Based on the graphical method we can conclude that the best estimator of survival in poverty and out of poverty is FRMLE. It means that we cannot assume that interoccurrence times within households are independent and identically distributed.

Poverty duration of households of the self- -employed

This study is one of the first attempts to discover how long households in Poland remain in poverty (out of poverty) and whether the time spent in poverty (out of poverty) depends on the socio-economic group of household. The analysis is conducted using panel data collected in the project ”Social Diagnosis” in 2000-2013. We analyze the survivor functions of staying in poverty (out of poverty) using the Kaplan-Meier method. The probability of survival for a long time in poverty is less than in the case of survival out of poverty. It should be noted that a small percentage of households remained in poverty for almost the entire period of the study. We compare the survival functions of staying in poverty (out of poverty) according to the socio-economic groups of households. For this purpose we use the log-rank test. In both cases the survivor functions are significantly different. Households of the self-employed survive longer out of poverty and simultaneously survive shorter in poverty than the other groups of households.

A Dialogical Inquiry into Practice Frameworks within Jabiru Community College: Re-centering Young People and Community within a Social Constructionist Frame

This chapter explores the practice framework guiding the practice of workers at Jabiru Community College, a community-based school in Brisbane, Australia. The chapter articulates the findings from a dialogical inquiry begun by the three authors with input from workers and youth. Seven dimensions of the framework being used by workers are described. Australian scholar Raewyn Connell stated in a recently published edited collection, Schools, communities and social inclusion, We rely on schools for social progress and mobility, and of course influential people usually have done well at school. But school systems that rely on competitive tests, examinations, selective provision and rationing of advanced education also sort children ruthlessly, steering some towards privilege and some towards exploitation. Schools lift some out of poverty but destroy others’ hopes and without conscious intention, lock out many of the rising generation from advanced education, professions and many riches of our culture. (2011, p. xi)

The Battle over the Minimum Wage, City by City

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray used May Day 2014 to announce that business and labor had agreed to a historic plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Seattle’s bold measure is a part of a growing wave of activism and local legislation around the country to help lift the working poor out of poverty. The gridlock in Washington—where Congress has not boosted the federal minimum wage, stuck at $7.25 an hour, since 2009—has catalyzed a growing movement in cities and states.

The poverty trap of education: Education–poverty connections in Western China

Traditional studies of development and education focus either on the benefits of education for lifting the poor out of poverty, or on the vicious circle created when poor cannot afford education. This paper adds to the traditional view by also focusing on the poverty trap that is created for families that invest heavily in education without obtaining returns. It offers another perspective on the new education–poverty trap, with the burden of educational costs as cause of poverty and deprivation for low- and middle-income families. Data from a large-scale survey of the Western regions of China shows that the cost of higher education is far beyond low- and middle-income families’ affordability. Chinese households face a dilemma: borrowing money to educate a child or avoiding debt but foregoing education and mobility. While already acknowledged as a major social problem in China, the new poverty–education connection has so far received relatively little scholarly attention.

Exiting Poverty: Does Sex Matter?

Little is understood about the factors associated with poverty duration in Canada, or which factors, if any, may affect women and men differently. Moreover, research pays scant attention to how far Canadians transition out of poverty. For example, some may exit poverty only marginally, while others exit much further above the poverty line. We investigate the determinants of poverty duration among women and men in Canada. A major contribution of this article is the examination of poverty duration across different exit destinations (competing risks): exits to just above the poverty line versus exits to further above the poverty line. We find that nearly one-quarter of poverty spells end within 110 percent of the poverty line (near poverty). Many of those who exit to near poverty experience multiple spells. As expected, we find that higher education increases the probability of transitioning further out of poverty, but very little is correlated with exits to near poverty relative to remaining in poverty. The longer the poverty spell, the lower the probability of exit, particularly to higher income levels. We find few significant gender differences in the coefficient estimates. Differences are present in the characteristics associated with exits close to or further away from the poverty line.

To Thrive, Survive, and Prosper as an Ordinary Urbanite

To Thrive, Survive, and Prosper as an Ordinary Urbanite William Jankowiak (bio) Xuefei Ren. Urban China. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013. xx, 218 pp. Paperback $22.95, isbn 978-0-7456-5359-4. China, one of the world’s oldest agrarian civilizations, will very soon become one of the world’s youngest urban civilizations. In this brief, albeit impressive, overview, Xuefei Ren has provided a much needed comparative framework for understanding the range of the urban scale and, more important, shows how ordinary Chinese are trying to thrive, survive, and prosper. He focuses on fifteen cities and tries, when possible, to include smaller and mid-range cities, where China is seeing its most rapid growth. The country’s rapid urbanization is helping to lift hundreds of millions of rural Chinese out of poverty. At the same time, the new second-tier cities are locked into a ferocious competition and spawning ambitious development plans. Today, it seems as if every Chinese city wants to develop into a world city with an international airport, six-lane highways, and export zones. The concept of integrated growth, however, appears to be a foreign concept. China has 129 cities with a population over one million, compared to nine in the United States. The Chinese urban population is growing at 2.5 percent a year, making it one of the fastest growing rates in the world. Most of this growth is pushed at the local level, beyond the guidance of central government. The result is often wasteful replication as well as exciting creative innovation. How can we make sense of this enormous social change? Ren argues that the neoliberal model is overly materialistic in its power to explain. It ignores the persistence of historical forces, such as the socialist legacy (e.g., high literacy rates, good education, long adult life expectancy) and its postsocialist institutional arrangements (e.g., creation of township and village enterprises) that laid the structural foundation for China’s economic takeoff. The neoliberal model cannot explain the short period of time in which China has become the second largest economy in the world, nor why other emergent economies—India, Russia, [End Page 38] and Brazil—that also embrace neoliberal policies have not grown at a similar pace. Ren points out that socialist urban policies were characterized as industrialization without urbanization, while in the reform era urbanization was funded through large-scale capital accumulation. In this way, China’s economic boom is an urban boom, and its economic miracle is an urban marvel. Ren discusses how urban sites are governed. He notes that Chinese cities are embedded in a complex system of hierarchical and horizontal authorities. He finds that decision-making power has shifted from central ministries to territorial authorities, especially to its municipal governments. The expansion of cities is directly linked to control over rural land. Nearly three hundred counties have been converted into cities, by order from the central government. This resource of power has provided government officials with the ability to undertake massive urban construction that has changed the urban landscape. This process has further resulted in an expansion of the outward acquisition of more land. The relocation of heavy industries from the inner cities relieves population pressure and encourages property development. Together, these policies have produced a hybrid land market with public ownership and private use rights. Why do Chinese cities look the way they do? An examination in settlement types finds that the state plays a critical role in remaking the city. By pushing policies such as “master plans, sponsorship of international architects, partnerships with private capital, and repression of popular demands” (p. 115), the central government contributed to the creation of numerous satellite towns found on the outskirts of every large Chinese city. The satellite towns serve as entry points for rural migrant workers to transition from the farm to the city. China’s urban transformation has also resulted in a huge socioeconomic status gap: migrants account for only a third of urban residents. China’s antiquated hukou system turns 221 million migrant workers into second-class citizens in their own country. Migrants live in villages in the city (ViCs) (chengzhongcun) that supply them with cheap lodging and proximity...

Financial Development and Economic Growth in Africa: Lessons and Prospects

This paper examines financial institutions within Africa if they are well positioned to assist the continent out of poverty with their growth prone capability. The study uses dynamic panel with variables as described by King & Levine (1993) and observed bi-directional relationship between finance and growth. Proxy for trade was not significant while evidences point to poor credit allocation to the private sector. The research also supports non-inclusion of money outside bank coffers in the King & Levine (1993) paper. The study covers 1970 to 2005 for about thirty-one African countries.