Poverty Gap Research Articles

A Study on Equity and Distribution of National Income and Poverty Method

The study offers an analysis of two important indicators: the equity of the distribution of national income and poverty, using the Gini coefficient, as it gives a numerical measure of the equity of the distribution. The last decades in Iraq and Egypt have witnessed widening the gap between different income groups due to several economic, political, and social factors. Therefore, the research focused on analyzing and measuring the phenomenon of poverty and its relation to the equity of income distribution for a sample of developing countries based on the annual statistical bulletins of the World Bank. Research has increased the phenomenon of poverty. In Iraq, based on national income per capita and total household consumption data using the Gini coefficient, the research concluded with a set of conclusions. The most important is the widening of the gap between per capita consumption and total family consumption increase in national income in Iraq. About the analysis of the phenomenon of Poverty in Egypt, the great disparity is also evident. In the poverty gap between national income per capita and total household consumption, despite the increase in national income in both countries, indicating low national income equity in both countries, and this is the result of the high cost of living and low real incomes, as well as the depreciation of the local currency. Therefore, the research problem boils down to whether the increase in the national income rate reflects positively in reducing inequality in the income distribution of the two countries and reduces the phenomenon of poverty.

The impact of financial depth on poverty in Egypt

This study deals with the linkages between financial depth and poverty reduction in Egypt using data for the period of 1990-2015. The study applied last square method (OLS) to examine impact of financial depth on poverty reduction. The study depends, in expressing its dependent variable, which is the level of poverty, on two original variables: The poverty gap, and the percentage of the number of actual poor in the population, at the poverty line of $ 1.90 per day, according to 2011 purchasing power parity. As for the independent target variable we have which is Financial Development, the study will depend on three variables proxy to express On the level of financial development, in order to verify the robustness and reliability of the results, namely; Domestic credit to the private sector (% of GDP), and financial depository bank assets to GDP (%), in addition to bank credit for bank deposits (%). Our results show evidence of cointegration which confirms the presence of long run relationship between financial deepening, economic growth and poverty reduction.

The benefits and limitations of agricultural input cooperatives in Zambia

• Cooperative-affiliated households use more fertilizer and hybrid seeds, and achieve higher yields, even when controlling for a nationwide input support program. • Across all selected productivity and input variables we find greater average treatment effects from cooperative membership than FISP participation. • Cooperative-affiliated households have more assets, more land, and higher yields than households without cooperative membership. • Zambian agricultural cooperatives most often provide collective benefits by decreasing transportation costs. • Poor households that are unable to join cooperatives miss out on direct benefits from subsidized inputs and benefits through collective action. Policymakers in Southern Africa have long viewed agricultural cooperatives as a way to reach rural households more easily, but because not all rural households can afford to join cooperatives, this raises questions about membership inclusivity and whether cooperatives advantage some smallholders over others. Agricultural cooperatives can serve as an institutional vehicle for policymakers to deliver direct benefits to smallholder farmers in the form of subsidized agricultural inputs, usually improved seed varieties and fertilizers. They can also serve as platforms for collective action through which smallholders can reduce transportation and transaction costs or disperse the costs of marketing. In Zambia farmers are required to join a cooperative to qualify for seed and fertilizer support through the national Farmer Input Support Program (FISP), which is a structural incentive for cooperative membership and makes it complicated to determine if cooperative membership increases use of inputs and yields on its own. Using the Inverse Probability Weight Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) technique, we find Zambian smallholders participating in cooperatives achieve significantly higher maize yields and use significantly more hybrid-maize seed and fertilizers, even when controlling for FISP eligibility. Furthermore, across all selected productivity and input variables we find greater average treatment effects from cooperative membership than FISP participation. Cooperative membership is also associated with more assets, more land, and higher maize yields, which suggests that the poorest rural households are often not cooperative members. Cooperatives can be a powerful poverty policy tool to deliver direct benefits to small farmers, but not including the poorest households likely widens the rural poverty gap, both in terms of limited direct benefits of input support programs and in terms of farmers missing out on cooperative-specific benefits.

Trickle-Down Economics Arthur Lewis dan Ekonomi Pembangunan Wisata Gunung Bromo di Desa Ngadisari, Kabupaten Probolinggo, Jawa Timur Tahun 2017-2018

In this paper, we will examine if trickle-down effect has ever taken in rural Indonesia. One of the case draws attention in economic development study is poverty and income gap from wealthiest people to the less fortunate larger group of people. The argument goes as trickle-down effect appears to be best solution to eradicate poverty as well as to solve the income gap. Tourism has become of a strategy targeted by government to spread the trickle-down effect to the less fortunate larger group of people. Government believes by sustaining the growth on tourism would accelerate the trickle-down effect and brings less fortunate group of people to better living. In its fundamental theory, trickle- down effect has offered delusion where jobs would be created as the conditions are met. However, this paper argues that even in tourism the trickle-down effect strategy has served less for what it has promised. Through qualitative research in Ngadisari Village, a remote area, where Mount Bromo has been a tourism landmark globally, this paper finds that trickle-down effect has come with little benefit to uplift the living standard of the poor. Thus, trickle- down effect has served only as delusions of growth government has ever aspired.

ANALYSIS OF POVERTY STATUS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG HOUSEHOLDS IN MICHIKA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined poverty status and coping strategies among Small Scale Farmers in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State of Nigeria. Purposive and simple random sampling methods were used to select 342 respondents. Primary data were collected with the aid of questionnaire and analyzed using Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT), Logistic regression and Likert type Scale. The poverty status of the respondents revealed that 64% were poor with poverty gap of 33%. Poverty severity also revealed that the 17% of the respondents were mostly hit by core poverty. Credit size and household size were significant at P≤0.01 while age of household head, farm size, and ownership of farm land, educational level and gender were found to be significant at 5% and positively influence poverty status in the study areas. Plaiting of hair/barbing and credit from Micro-Finance banks (MFBs) were the major non-agricultural poverty coping strategies with mean of x = 3.0 and x = 2.89, respectively, and major agricultural poverty coping strategies were rain fed crop farming and gardening with mean value of x = 3.69 and x = 3.21, respectively. The study recommended that credit accessible to farmers and promote off farm activities as an alternative to livelihood strategies will go a long way in addressing their poverty situation.

The gendered impact of pandemics on poor women: The case of COVID-19 in South Africa

This article provides a reflection on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its effect on poor women in South Africa. The article provides a unique insight into the gendered impact of COVID-19, specifically assessing women in informal settlements and townships. The article interrogates poor women who are unable to implement the suggested measures to reduce the spread of the virus. The focus is on poor women as this group was considered most vulnerable, notably because of the dependency on the salaries of poor women. The article enlists how this pandemic is different from others in the sense that there is a differentiated impact on poor women. The differentiated impact is discussed under various themes, including ability to social distance, transportation implications, access to food and access to the COVID-19 relief grant. Access to COVID-19 grants and subsequent relief measures are assessed for their accessibility to poor women. The discussion engages the latest statistics available in 2020 during the pandemic and also reflects on what this means for the future. The article broadly explores the poverty gap and how this impacts poor women and looks at inequality in terms of labour demands on poor women during the pandemic. Finally, the article suggests some reforms that could be implemented going forward for poor women by government and other stakeholders, given that many cannot access their employment in a safe manner, and also looks at social reforms in terms of access to relief efforts for poor communities.Contribution: This article focuses on the most marginalised group of people in South African society affected by COVID-19, namely, poor women. The article provides a unique contribution by assessing the consequences of the pandemic and looks at possible recommendations for addressing the plight of poor women in South Africa post-COVID-19.

Adoption determinants of biogas and its impact on poverty in Bangladesh

Renewable energy resources are critical for reducing poverty and addressing the energy shortage. Renewable energy technologies have been slow to gain traction in Bangladesh. This study examines the factors that influence biogas adoption and the effects on income and poverty levels. A total of 400 respondents were surveyed to achieve the objectives. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and a set of econometric models. According to the results, approximately one-third of the respondents used biogas technology. Respondents’ perceptions of reduced cooking fuel costs and modern communication technologies such as internet connectivity and mobile phone use played a major role in their adoption decision. The likelihood of adoption is 11.9 per cent and 56.7 per cent higher for those who have access to the internet and mobile phone compared to their counterparts. Adopters of biogas have between 13 and 27 per cent higher per capita household income than non-adopters. Based on radius matching, the household poverty gap is approximately 16 per cent lower for biogas adopters than non-adopters. Modifying the extension approach through the use of modern communication techniques can help achieve widespread adoption. The availability of capital may play a vital role in adoption. There is a need to promote the role of biogas technology in anti-poverty programmes​ in Bangladesh.

RURAL HOUSEHOLD POVERTY AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS: A POVERTY ANALYSIS USING ALTERNATIVE MEASUREMENT APPROACHES

Poverty analysis studies in Ethiopia are dominated by measures determined by the subjectivity of the researchers and not with the involvement of households in understanding and measuring what is meant to the people. Studies conducted to take into considerations the knowledge of the poor are very scant and limited to rural participatory projects. This study is motivated to bridge the literature gap of comparing the objective measuring of poverty with a measure that accounts the perception of households about poverty. Hence, this study aims at examining rural household poverty and its determining factors using alternative poverty measurement approaches inGozamin district of East Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region. It used both objective and subjective based poverty analysis approaches, where the poverty line of the study area is estimated as 19.16 Birr per day using cost of basic needs approach. The study indicates that 35.12 % of the population lives under poverty and it is closely estimated as 33.33% using Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA). Poverty is rampant and a sever challenge in Dega(cold) agro-ecology of the District, where 57.37% of the population lives under poverty compared to Kolla(hot), where it is down to 8.4%. Among others, family size and being in Kolla agro-ecology have significant negative effect on consumption expenditure, but positively affect poverty incidence, gap and severity, while access to credit, cooperative, health extension services and off-farm activities have significant but exactly opposite results. PPA findings revealed that, perception of the community towards poverty is beyond the conventional, income/consumption based definition. Therefore, development policies and poverty reduction strategies should emphasie on local level poverty understanding and measures.

Measuring the impact of unconditional cash transfers on consumption and poverty in Rwanda

This study estimates the causal effect of Rwanda’s unconditional cash transfer program (VUP-Direct Support) on the incidence of poverty, the poverty gap, and household food and non-food expenditure for direct support recipients. Our empirical analysis applies four matching methods to data from the 2013/14 household survey in order to estimate the program impact on the treated. The findings show that participation in the program has positive and statistically significant effects on measured headcount poverty and poverty gap. The program results in a small increase in both total and food consumption, with a reduction in consumption of food from home production, and no change in non-food consumption. The estimated treatment effects are relatively robust to violations of the conditional independence assumption, and to the choice of subsample.The fact that average annual cash transfers are equivalent to a third of total consumption, for recipients, plays an essential role in the observed results. Households respond to VUP cash transfers by working less on their own farms. This is a qualitatively different response than the reaction to remittances, which are associated with more consumption of all types. While VUP cash transfers do not raise consumption by as much as would be expected, thus having a modest effect on measured poverty rates, the transfers in effect allow a significant number of older subsistence households to at least partly retire.

Poverty dynamics in Indonesia: empirical evidence from three main approaches

Although the number of studies on poverty dynamics in Indonesia is growing, the findings remain inconclusive. This study aims to reexamine the poverty dynamics in Indonesia by using three main approaches: the spell approach, the component approach, and the equally distributed equivalent (EDE) poverty gap approach. The study employed household panel data from the National Socio-Economic Survey of Indonesia (Susenas) 2008 and 2010 and also the FGT index. The analysis shows that the spell approach tends to underestimate chronic poverty (households remain poor in two consecutive periods of observations). It estimates that 6.7% of the total households experienced chronic poverty. Meanwhile, the conclusion of poverty dynamics under the component approach is sensitive to the choice of poverty parameter of the FGT index. By employing the poverty parameter of α = 0, around 11.07% of total households were classified as chronically poor (average expenditure below the poverty lines). However, applying the poverty gap (α = 1) and poverty severity (α = 2) indicates that the chronic component reached 63.16% and 54.15% of the total poverty, respectively. Likewise, the EDE poverty gap approach also suggests that poverty in Indonesia is mainly chronic at 92% of the total component of poverty. The high percentage of chronic poverty is contributed by the significant cost of inequality.

Achieving Financial Inclusion for Persons With Disabilities: Exploring Preparedness and Accessibility of Financial Services for Persons With Disabilities in Malawi

Deplorable living conditions among persons with disabilities and the need to improve their living conditions cannot be overemphasized. This has triggered international discussion on the need for deliberate social policies to bridge the poverty gap between persons with and without disabilities. In Malawi, expansion of financial services has been identified as an essential tool to accelerate economic and inclusive development. However, empirical studies are yet to explore the preparedness of financial institutions to extend their services to persons with disabilities. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from commercial banks in Malawi to understand their perspectives on extending financial services to persons with disabilities. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a descriptive thematic analysis was performed. Although participants reiterated the need to provide persons with disabilities with financial services to improve their well-being, few initiatives have been undertaken to improve their participation. Particularly, participants stated that barriers, such as a lack of financial literacy and adaptive technologies, communication barriers, and high rates of unemployment, explained the reluctance of commercial banks to extend financial services to persons with disabilities. The limitations, recommendations for future research, and implications of the study for policymaking have been highlighted.

Gender Poverty Gap: A Comparative analysis of India and Pakistan

This paper attempts to estimate gender poverty gap in Pakistan using multidimensional poverty approach and compares it with India. Pakistan data have been used to compute multidimensional poverty. Findings of the paper suggest that there is gender poverty gap in Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan are suffering from poverty. Head count poverty is high in both countries but India has managed to lift more people out of multidimensional poverty. The paper recommends to design targeted oriented policies reduce gender poverty.

Fuzzy Clustering Algorithm to Catching Pattern of Change in District/City Poverty Variables Before and The Beginning of The Covid-19 Pandemic in Sulawesi Island

The first goal of the SDGs is to end poverty in any form. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected several economic indicators, especially absolute poverty, especially in Sulawesi Island, which has increased poverty indicators, leading to the movement of values between districts/cities. The grouping will show similar characteristics of absolute variable poverty. By the Fuzzy method clustering, each observation has a degree of membership so that from the degree of membership can be identified which areas have vulnerable to move from one cluster to another. Grouping using fuzzy algorithms will get an overview of districts of concern to the government during the pandemic so that the variable indicators of absolute poverty do not worsen due to the pandemic. Comparison with the absolute variables of poverty in 2019 and 2020 in the headcount index (P0), Poverty Gap Index (P1), and Poverty Severity Index (P2) in districts/cities on the island of Sulawesi based on silhouette coefficients shows that optimum clusters formed as many as 2 clusters, with a coefficient of 0.57 and 0.60 respectively. Cluster 1 has characteristics including areas with absolute poverty rates that tend to be more prosperous than cluster 2 in the 2019 and 2020 data groups on the island of Sulawesi. The fuzzy algorithm detects areas prone to displacement from cluster 1 to cluster 2, namely Bombana, Bone, Sangihe Islands, South Konawe, and Siau Tagulandang Biaro in 2019 and Bombana, Bone, Sangihe, and Maros Islands in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 has not had much impact on the macro indicators of poverty seen in the transfer of membership from 2019 to 2020, which only occurred to 3 districts that changed, namely bolaang mongondouw and konawe selatan from cluster 1 to cluster 2 and Maros from cluster 2 to cluster 1.

The Role of Internal and External Migration on Rural Poverty Alleviation In Pakistan: A Case Study of Multan District

Migration has become an important part of the current global economy. People migrate from their homes for different purposes although this study endeavors to estimate the role of internal and external migration on poverty alleviation in rural areas of the Multan district. Binary logistic regression is applied to the data of 170 rural households. Poverty has been measured by the headcount index, poverty gap, and squared poverty gap, estimates show the high incidence of poverty in rural areas of Multan district. The findings reveal that rural to urban migration, foreign remittances, educational attainment of the household head, household head age and livestock population turn out to be discouraging aspects of poverty while physical disability and household size turn out to be encouraging aspects of poverty. To eradicate poverty easiness in internal and external migration should be ensured by the government.

Poverty Situation in Tribal and Non-tribal Area of Gujarat, India

The present investigation undertook to study the extent of poverty in the tribal and non-tribal areas applying the FGT index. Results showed that overall poverty was higher in the tribal area as compared to non-tribal areas. Among farm sectors in the tribal and non-tribal area, the highest poverty in marginal farm households was followed by landless agricultural labors and small farm households. The overall poverty gap index revealed, on average, 11 percent and 4 percent of the poverty line cash transfer needed to lift each poor person out of poverty in tribal and non-tribal areas, respectively. The value of the squared poverty gap index showed poverty was less severe in non-tribal areas. The poverty line’s average expenditure gap shows poor of tribal areas were more flawed than the poor of non-tribal regions in Central Gujarat. Overall expenditure of poor households on food items constituted maximum share followed by non-food items, medical and education in the tribal and non-tribal area. In tribal regions, both poor and non-poor people were spending more on intoxicant and tobacco products than non-tribal areas. The government should give regular employment to inadequate household programs like MGNREGA. There is a dire need to make an awareness program to control the use of intoxicants and tobacco in general for both the area and particularly in tribal areas because they were spending more on these items.

Factors that the Effect of Social Welfare Service on Poor Family Stress Reduction

There is no choice for a person being born in a family. Currently, the situation of family poverty is getting serious. Lots of low-income population is children stuck in poverty. The weakness of family economy results in the bad development, e.g. low social economy, poverty, cultural capital, and family structure disadvantage, to affect children not receiving sufficient family resources in the enlightenment stage and being the inheritors of inter-generation poverty. Poverty gap drives clearer social stratification, and the adverse nature environment becomes a secret concern in children’ future development. Aiming at poor families in Hubei, as the questionnaire analysis objects, 280 copies of questionnaire are distributed, and 214 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 76%. The research results are summarized as below: Top five indicators, among 22, are sequenced in-kind subsidy, visit care, self-help groups, community activity, and sponsorship for education; Overall speaking, poor families receiving social welfare service show the highest satisfaction with financial subsidy; besides, sponsorship system is correlated with financial subsidy that poor families are satisfied with sponsorship system; Psychological behaviors involve in individual single parents and the children. Under the emphasis of single parents on the children and the support for single parents’ personal emotions, single parents are obviously satisfied with psychological behavior service. According to the results to propose suggestions, it is expected to benefit the government promoting various social welfare services to fully take care of public welfare and promote people’s quality of life.

Impoverishment impact of out-of-pocket payments for healthcare in rural Bangladesh: Do the regions facing different climate change risks matter?

IntroductionOut-of-pocket (OOP) payments for healthcare severely affect the current consumption, future health and earnings capacity of poor/underprivileged households and hence it is crucial for priority setting. This study assesses the variation in overall as well as disease-specific impoverishment impact of OOP payments between the regions experiencing different climate change risks, defined as high disaster-prone (HDP) areas and low-disaster-prone (LDP) areas, in Bangladesh.Materials and methodsThis paper estimated three poverty measures, such as poverty headcount, poverty intensity and normalized poverty gap for all ailments, catastrophic events, diseases types (communicable, non-communicable (NCDs), and accident and injury), illness conditions (acute and chronic) and hospitalization using 3,791 randomly selected rural households (1,203 from HDP and 2,588 from LDP areas) across the regions. Cost of basic need approach was used for estimating poverty line expenditure.ResultsAbout 13 percent households annually fall into poverty due to OOP outlays for healthcare. Despite having significantly (p-value≤0.01) less OOP payments (HDP areas: BDT 5,117; LDP areas: BDT5,811) the impoverishment impact of OOP payments for healthcare in HDP areas (16.5%) has substantially higher than LDP areas (11.3%).Population in HDP areas, especially char (river island; 19.55 percent) and haor (water submerged; 16.80 percent) are more susceptible to any level of OOP payments due to low level of earnings. Catastrophic healthcare expenditure (61.79%) and NCDs (14.29 percent) are exacerbating the poverty level in Bangladesh. Both absolute and relative average poverty gap are more widen in HDP than LDP areas due to catastrophic OOP outlays for healthcare.ConclusionThe impoverishment effect due to OOP payments for healthcare in both HDP and LDP areas are high, especially for NCDs and catastrophic healthcare expenditure. However, the situation is bit worse in HDP areas. Preventing the escalation of NCDs as well as catastrophic expenditure and hence reducing the level of impoverishment thereof call for restricting tobacco use, increasing physical activity, encouraging to intake healthy diets, ensuring food safety, controlling air pollution, and improving mental health. Moreover, government should give more emphasis, especially in the HDP areas, on making community clinics more functional through providing screening equipment and training to the Community Health Care Providers for early detection of NCDs, and ensuring availability of medicine all the time. Note that other than community clinics, there is little option for providing healthcare in HDP areas due to poor functionality of public facilities as well as lack of private facilities in HDP areas.

Determinants of Urban Poverty in Ethiopia: The Case of Jimma Town, South West Ethiopia

The objective of this study is to identify determinants of urban poverty in Jimma town. In order to meet the objectives of the study, cross sectional, descriptive and explanatory, research design applied. The sampling technique of the study used stratified and simple random sampling was employed to select households. Information has gathered a sample of 397 household heads were through primary and secondary data. A Logit model was employed and estimated based on the primary data, with the probability of a household being poor as a dependent variable and a set of demographic and socioeconomic variables as the explanatory parameters. By Considering total household consumption and dividing it by the household adult equivalent size, from sample of 397 surveyed household heads, the head count, poverty gap, and severity index of the survey obtained as 66%, 17.8% and 3.16 respectively. The finding revealed that variables that are positively correlated with the probability of being poor are gender, family size, employment/occupation and health/disease incidence of the household. Variables negatively correlated with probability of being poor are: income, educational level, and marital status, age of house hold, housing, house hold residence and saving. The major significance which affected significantly the incidences of poverty in the town are: education, income, age, saving, housing, gender, occupation, family size, previous residence, health and employment. The study concluded that most important determinants of urban poverty in the study area that plays a significant role in affecting incidence poverty are income, education and saving are the major implication to incidence of poverty. Study recommended that strong negative relationship between income, education, saving, housing, and residence with the probability of being poor point out that a need to consider government and non-government organization in designing strategy and policies targeted to curb urban poverty. Keywords: Urban poverty, Jimma Town, House hold-level, analysis DOI: 10.7176/CER/13-4-01 Publication date: June 30 th 2021

Estimation of Urban and Rural Poverty and Inequality concerning Hormozgan Province compared with the Country as a Whole

In this paper we have estimated the urban and rural poverty and inequality trends for the important Hormozgan province and for the country as a whole concerning the period 1984-2019. Doing so, we have used the micro income-expenditure survey data published annually by the Statistical Center of Iran and estimated the non-parametric Gini coefficient, poverty line and then poverty gaps. Then, in order to compare the urban and rural poverty as well as inequality levels regarding Hormozgan with that of the country as a whole, we have used 6 simple regression ANOVA models. The results indicate that the urban poverty and inequality levels have been significantly lower than that of in the rural areas. Poverty in Hormozgan urban and rural areas have been significantly more than urban and rural areas of the country as a whole, respectively. However, the Inequality in Hormozgan urban and rural areas have significantly less than those in the country as a whole, respectively.

Assessing the impact of Pupil Premium funding on primary school segregation and attainment

ABSTRACT Pupil Premium funding has been provided to schools in England since 2011, to reduce socio-economic segregation, and the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. There is little evidence it works. Some stakeholders are now considering whether funding should cease, or have a new objective. Evaluating the impact of such a funding policy is not easy because the relevant outcomes are sensitive to demographic, economic and other concurrent policy changes. These issues are addressed using the National Pupil Database, comparing the poverty gap in primary schools from 2006 to 2019, focusing on pupils who would have attracted Pupil Premium funding, if it existed, in any year and under any economic conditions. After 2010, the segregation of long-term disadvantaged pupils and their peers reduced in Years 1 and 6, and their attainment improved relative to their peers at a ges 7 and 11. However, assessments changed after 2014 and this complicates the pattern. A regression model suggests that relative attainment for poor pupils improved markedly in the Pupil Premium era, even in regions like the North of England which have faced criticism for apparently “failing“ their poor pupils. We argue for retaining the Pupil Premium policy.