Poverty Policy Research Articles

Racial Capitalism in an Ethnic Minority Border Region

Abstract In the social, historical, and political context of Xi Jinping’s China, particular forms of racialization and racial capitalism have emerged in Altay Prefecture, the homeland of ethnic Kazakhs on China’s northwest border. This study examines the husbandry industry in Altay Prefecture to elucidate how Xi’s China has built a mode of racial capitalism through the management of Kazakh land, ethnicity, and culture. Within the framework of a case study, I employ document collection and participant observation methods to gather data that are then interpreted through critical policy analysis. The research shows that Kazakhs have been racialized based on their mobile pastoral traditions, enslaved in the “debt economy,” and exploited through husbandry policies and programs. The particular ways in which husbandry has been restructured and assimilated into Chinese industrial production chains exploit and reproduce the Kazakh-Han hierarchy and segregation. This close look at racial capitalism in Altay sheds light on the operations of Xi’s ecological civilization and war on poverty policies in an ethnic minority border region and discusses how they align with the broader geopolitics of the Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

New energy technology innovation and energy poverty alleviation in China

Energy poverty has received attention, but in-depth research on the relationship between new energy technology innovation and energy poverty is lacking. Using data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2006 to 2020, we examine the impact of new energy technology innovation on energy poverty in China. We collect provincial-level patent data and energy poverty evaluation indicators, categorizing them into four subsystems: energy use level, energy capacity, energy use structure, and energy investment management. Findings indicates: (1) New energy technology innovation significantly alleviates energy poverty in China. This is primarily attributed to improvements in energy supply and residents' income. (2) The effectiveness of new energy technology innovations in alleviating energy poverty is enhanced by provincial transportation development and technology market activity but diminished by urbanization. (3) New energy technology innovations lead to notable increases in energy use level and energy capacity, a decrease in energy use structure, and no significant impact on energy investment management. (4) Innovations from enterprises, university and research institutes significantly contribute to alleviating China's energy poverty. However, innovations from industry-university-research collaborations and other innovators do not significantly affect China's energy poverty. Our findings provide valuable insights for theoretical research and energy poverty policy design.

Emotions and the Social Bond in Situations of Poverty

Although the relationship between emotions and poverty has been recognized by social scientists, it received little attention as a lens through which to observe, interpret, and deal with this issue. To fill this gap, we conducted a qualitative, exploratory, and preliminary analysis of the content of forty interviews with parents living in economic poverty as part of the Research Project of National Interest (PRIN) "Constructions of Parenthood on Uncertain Ground. What Role for Social Work" sought to investigate whether and how the emotional dimension intervenes in poverty, as well as the role it may play in the processes of entering or departing this reality. It was revealed that impoverished individuals experience a wide spectrum of emotions, which contribute to a more complete and multifaceted picture of people in poverty, with more positive features than negative ones. Moreover, the study revealed that poor people experienced a wide range of happy emotions that are not typically associated with poverty. This article focuses on three of these positive feelings - gratitude, solidarity, and pride - and discusses how they grow in the interaction between individuals who live in poverty and those who do not, as well as how they contribute to the strengthening of social cohesion and bonds. This thought appears to be valuable in terms of the positive implications it may have for knowledge and the development of policies targeted at combating poverty. In fact, the analysis confirms that the sociology of emotions is a viable approach to understanding the conditions of individuals living in poverty and opening up new avenues for future research. Furthermore, it helps to overcome preconceptions and stereotypes that still surround poor people, as well as the ideological assumptions about poverty that underpin many contemporary European poverty policies, putting social cohesiveness at danger.

Utilising User Data from a Food-Sharing App to Evidence the "Heat-or-Eat" Dilemma

Introduction & BackgroundPrevious literature has found that financially vulnerable households often make involuntary spending trade-offs between necessities, particularly energy and food. This effect is especially pronounced during winter, when homes require greater energy expenditure to maintain an adequate temperature. Despite frequent colloquial and journalistic references to the "heat-or-eat dilemma”, there remains limited recent empirical evidence of this phenomenon in the UK. This is a considerable knowledge gap, given recent economic hardship and rising energy costs. Objectives & ApproachThis study uses survey data (n=2877), collected during winter 2022 in London, UK, to analyse the sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics of respondents affecting self-reported heat-or-eat trade-offs. The survey was deployed via users of the food-sharing app, OLIO, and quota restraints were enforced to ensure the socioeconomic representativeness of the sample (based on Index of Multiple Deprivation). The survey question of interest (i.e., the dependent variable) was ""in the past year, how frequently did your household reduce or forego expenses for basic household necessities, such as medicine or food, in order to pay an energy bill?"" and responses were recorded using a discrete, ordinal scale: never; 1-2 months; some months but not every month; almost every month. Given the nature of the dependent variable, the Random Parameters Ordered Probit (RPOP) model, a statistical modelling framework used in the case of discrete, ordered outcomes, was considered suitable. The RPOP approach allows the effect of various independent variables to be explored, which in this case, are sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics of respondents. Relevance to Digital FootprintsThe relevance to the digital footprints theme is embedded in the study’s aim: to draw insights into social issues through the analysis of sociodemographic and behavioural data retrieved from the users of a mobile app. ResultsInitial results show that a considerable proportion (~37%) of the sample made heat-or-eat trade-offs at least one month of the year. Interestingly, this is several times higher than the official rate of fuel poverty in London (11.9%), suggesting that the government’s fuel poverty metric fails to capture many homes that display signs of energy unaffordability. The RPOP model estimation results show that a broad range of sociodemographic variables (including features of household composition and disability), as well as several behavioural features derived from the respondents’ use of the OLIO app, including the frequency of app usage and food requests, significantly affected the likelihood of heat-or-eat trade-offs. Conclusions & ImplicationsOur results can be used to guide remedial food and fuel poverty policies. It may be particularly useful to focus on the sociodemographic variables that lead to heat-or-eat trade-offs, given that the English fuel poverty metric places arguably unjust focus on a home’s energy efficiency, rather than occupant characteristics.

E-commerce development, poverty reduction and income growth in rural China

PurposeThis research examines the impact of the National Rural E-commerce Comprehensive Demonstration Project (NRECDP) on poverty reduction and income growth in rural China.Design/methodology/approachThe study develops a theoretical framework, which considers the role of geographical, technological, institutional and cultural factors for the e-commerce poverty alleviation (e-CPA) model. Empirically, this study applies the difference-in-differences (DID) model and the event study approach to evaluate the effectiveness of NRECDP on the basis of large-scale county-level and household-level panel data spanning 2010 to 2020.FindingsThe study found that the NRECDP, as a government-led, information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled, market-based program, has led to a significant increase in per capita output of primary industry employees, as well as in the disposable income of rural residents, especially those in national-level poverty-stricken (NP) counties. The interventions of the NRECDP achieved these positive outcomes through transportation and Internet infrastructure improvement, ICT adoption and human capital accumulation in impoverished towns and villages in remote rural areas. These effects are larger in the eastern region of China, followed by the central region, whereas the weakest effects were found in the western region. However, we found little evidence of the NRECDP increasing household developmental expenditure.Research limitations/implicationsThe study findings have important practical and policy implications for rural e-commerce development and self-sustained poverty alleviation solutions. The research revealed the significance of government NRECDP interventions for increasing rural income, reducing living costs, and empowering the rural population in its multiple social roles, namely, as consumers, producers, employees and microentrepreneurs. The local cultural context may also play a role in ICT adoption and entrepreneurship cultivation with a downstream effect on the effectiveness of e-CPA practices. Policymakers would need to ensure a supportive entrepreneur-friendly environment for rural e-commerce development and continue implementing progressive policies for poverty alleviation.Originality/valueThis study explores poverty alleviation issues in China by developing for the first time a multi-faceted framework that is subsequently tested by both county-level and household-level large-scale observations. Also, it is the first study to provide nationwide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of e-CPA in narrowing down the spatial and digital divides in China. In addition to the impact of geography, technology and governmental support, this study also sheds light on the role of culture in the adoption and diffusion of digital technologies and as a source of local entrepreneurial opportunities.

Creating energy poverty by an anti-energy poverty policy? An analysis of the impact of the “coal-to-gas” policy in Northern China

The recent “coal-to-gas" (CTG) energy policy serves as an important measure to mitigate air pollution in northern China, and also carries out a mission of alleviating rural energy poverty. To unravel the impact of the CTG policy on rural energy poverty, this study examines the effect on economic and well-being dimensions of energy poverty based on data from five villages in northern China. The findings indicate that in general the CTG policy only limitedly alleviated rural energy poverty with effects varying significantly across different social groups. Economically, the policy has significantly increased recipients’ financial burden, and thereby exacerbated their energy poverty. In terms of well-being, the policy has improved the quality of life for villagers by reducing cooking time and raising indoor temperature, thus contributing to a reduction in energy poverty. The CTG recipients are distinguished into four categories based on varied experiences on economic and well-being aspects, with only one third experiencing overall positive impacts. The study suggests that energy policies intended to alleviate energy poverty may paradoxically perpetuate it. The differential impact across social groups calls for more nuanced and targeted approaches to mitigate the adverse effects of energy policies.

Challenging the ‘reticent’ state? Grassroots organizations, COVID-19 and the local government

As pointed out by some scholars, the public response to homelessness and poverty changed dramatically with the pandemic (Parsell et al., 2020) as public stakeholders decided to spend additional fundings for homelessness and poverty policies. However, these interventions were often thought of as a means to reduce the threat to the health of the non-homeless population (Parsell et al., 2020) and were led by local governments which remain reluctant to provide the necessary resources for ending homelessness (Evans et al., 2021). As these public interventions were insufficient and took a long time to be implemented, grassroots organizations were often at the forefront of the crisis for providing resources to the most marginalized people. Drawing on this basis, this paper aims at understanding the role taken by a grassroots organization in Rennes (a medium-sized city in France) during the pandemic. I focus on a local grassroots organization which worked independently of the state and developed informal practices to deliver food to people experiencing homelessness and food insecure households. In this perspective, they managed to compete with professional and state-funded service providers and the pandemic shed light on the efficiency of their practices, based on unconditionality and empowerment. Through observant participation and interviews with the grassroots organization's managers, volunteers and public stakeholders, I argue that, during the pandemic, this grassroots organization was not only a “buffer to state absence and neglect” (De Verteuil, 2017, p.1518), but it also managed to put forward some of their claims, hence challenging the “reticent state” (Evans et al., 2021) and steering public policies into more compassionate ways to address food insecurity.

Estimating Multidimensional Poverty: A New Methodological Approach

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a new welfare-based multidimensional poverty index (WMPI). The index introduces extent and severity parameters into the multidimensional poverty estimation. The method also introduces a new individual and indicator-specific weighting scheme. This approach is simple to apply and accurately measures poverty with less susceptibility to measurement error. The index satisfies all multidimensional poverty axioms, including transferability and monotonicity. The newly proposed method has been applied to Ethiopian data and compared with similar methods. The estimation result reveals that the multidimensional poverty rate for Ethiopia with a tight poverty policy is 38.5 percent, while with a loose poverty policy, it amounts to 33.1 percent. On the contrary, with the Alkire-Foster method, the multidimensional poverty rate is 43.1 percent.

Региональная бедность: поколенческий аспект

The article presents the results of an empirical sociological study conducted in 2022 in Saratov using the questionnaire method and dedicated to poverty. The volume of the quota-territorial sample amounted to 626 respondents. It was revealed that the middle generation was more likely to talk about absolute poverty, the younger – about relative poverty. Today, the majority of Saratov residents link poverty with an income of 8–12,000 rubles. Every fourth of them felt poverty at the beginning of their independent life path and the same number, mainly of the middle generation, at the time of the survey are in a situation of poverty. They feel more deprived in all areas of everyday life, especially on vacation. The dynamics of the assessment of the material situation indicates a relatively successful stable improvement in the situation of young people, and somewhat less favorable multidirectional vectors of change in the middle generation. Among young people, they more often talked about the risk of losing their jobs, low wages, and losing their breadwinner. Among the middle generation, the fear of illness and over-indebtedness are more common. For residents of the city of Saratov, the main objective factors of poverty were low wages (68.5%), unemployment (50.5%), insufficient state support (44.0%). Along with this, the subject characteristics that contribute to poverty are highlighted: laziness, alcoholism, low educational level, drug addiction, loss of health, over-indebtedness and loss of breadwinner. In other words, Saratov residents are more inclined to blame the state and its policies for poverty, not forgetting about the subjective characteristics of individuals. Young people are more optimistic than the average generation about overcoming poverty. 6.7% of Saratov residents leave the town for other areas to earn money, mainly young people (6.9%). 20.0% of the population, mostly the middle generation, still plan to do it. Most often, people leave for work to capital cities, less often - in other regions. The majority of the Saratov population, especially the middle generation, rather negatively evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy to overcome poverty in the region.

Harmonisation of Indonesia's One Poverty Data Policy Oriented Towards Sustainable Development Goals

Objective: This research aims to implement social protection programmes through the One Poverty Data Policy more effectively, efficiently, and on target so that poverty reduction programme policies can run optimally following the sustainable development goals of eliminating poverty and hunger. Method: This type of research is normative juridical with a descriptive-analytical approach, discussing existing legal symptoms and problems and testing them based on legislation and legal norms. Result and conclusion: This study aims to present a potential resolution to the inadequacies observed in past poverty reduction initiatives. The absence of regulatory consistency across ministries has led to varying interpretations and definitions of poverty, the continued use of unchanged data, and the fragmented execution of programmes, which are the main elements contributing to this issue. The performance of data governance reforms needs the harmonisation and integration of social protection systems. The research holds great importance due to its ability to improve poverty alleviation initiatives' efficacy, efficiency, and accuracy. The possible benefits of implementing the One Data Poverty policy include enhancing the effectiveness and targeting of poverty alleviation efforts and aligning them with the objectives articulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A policy impact case study using real world data from Welsh government fuel poverty schemes to inform scheme design

ObjectivesTo reduce fuel poverty in Wales: the Welsh Government developed schemes to provide energy efficiency improvements to lower income households.
 To inform scheme design: investigate health impacts by linking scheme data to health records.
 Presented objective: to demonstrate how research findings using real world data can impact policy focus.
 ApproachThe research was conducted by an independent researcher at Swansea University who co-produced research questions with the Welsh Government Fuel Poverty Policy Team.
 A longitudinal dataset was created linking anonymised ‘Warm Homes: Nest’ improvements data to residents’ routine health records in the SAIL Databank at Swansea University. We examined recipient health before and after intervention compared with controls.
 A high-level policy briefing and research report were published in the Welsh Government Social Research – Analysis for Policy series.
 Findings were used to design and pilot new eligibility criteria to capture low-income individuals with a respiratory, circulatory or mental health condition.
 ResultsThis presentation will describe the policy impact pathway from initial discussions with policymakers to real world change, including:
 
 securing ESRC funding for a Knowledge Transfer Fellowship, which included a 2013 data linking demonstration project…
 …which allowed funding to be secured for a 2015-18 research project on the impact of improvements on recipient health…
 …which published emerging findings in 2016…
 …and substantive findings in 2017, showing a significant positive impact of improvements on recipient health…
 …which policymakers used to design a pilot to test ways to widen eligibility criteria to include individuals on a low income with a respiratory, circulatory or mental health condition…
 …which led to scheme criteria being widened in 2019.
 
 By 2021, 25% of recipients entered the scheme via the ‘health route’.
 ConclusionBy delivering research findings generated using linked real world data, and focused on questions co-produced with policymakers, researchers can successfully impact the design and implementation of government policy, thereby improving the lives of people in the real world - in this case, the health of the citizens of Wales.

Structural evil or individual deficiency? The construction of poverty in the Finnish Parliament

This article examines the political standpoints and arguments related to poverty by asking how Finnish politicians understand poverty as a social problem, how they construct the poor as a group, and what policy recommendations they propose to fight poverty. Qualitative content analysis was used to examine minutiae from the interpellation debate on the increasing inequality in Finland in November 2017. Despite an increase in austerity policies and a right-wing government, the poverty discourse remained in alignment with a predominantly structural nature, showcasing the strength of ideological and contextual continuity in terms of poverty policy development.

Energy Policy and Poverty: A Study of the Effects of Fuel Prices in Indonesia

The purpose of this article is to examine the effects of the Indonesian government's oil fuel price policy on the nation's poverty rate. This study investigates how variations in oil fuel costs affect the population's ability to make purchases, particularly those who are below the poverty line. It does so by using secondary data from a variety of sources and quantitative analysis techniques. According to the study's findings, the oil industry's gasoline pricing strategy significantly affects the poverty rate because rising fuel costs tend to make people poorer. According to this article, the government should think about the socioeconomic repercussions of its energy policy and look for ways to lessen the effects of rising fuel prices. The study adds to the body of knowledge on energy and poverty policies in Indonesia by offering new insights into the relationship between energy policy and poverty.

Poverty Policy: Between Hope and Reality

This study examines the inherent duality in poverty policy, analyzing the discrepancy between the goals established by policies and the actual outcomes of their execution. The study employs an analytical methodology to examine diverse poverty programs implemented in various countries, emphasizing their accomplishments and shortcomings. The paper begins by providing an overview of the historical development of poverty policy and elucidating how economic and social perspectives have influenced strategies for poverty management. The study subsequently explores the implementation of these rules, encompassing the frequently encountered issues and obstacles. Emphasis is placed on examining case studies that demonstrate effective poverty reduction measures and cases when expectations were not fulfilled. Using data and case studies, the paper examines the crucial aspects that impact the efficacy of poverty initiatives, including the political framework, economic resources, and community participation. In addition, the topic encompasses the influence of technology and innovation on developing more flexible and receptive poverty policies. Ultimately, the study thoroughly examines the interplay between theory and practice in poverty policy. This indicates that a more all-encompassing and inclusive strategy may be required to tackle poverty concerns effectively. Hence, the article's objective is to offer valuable perspectives for policymakers, practitioners, and academics concerned with addressing poverty in a constantly evolving global environment.

Energy vulnerability in Mediterranean countries: A latent class analysis approach

The need to protect vulnerable consumers is a priority for the European Commission but defining who is energy vulnerable remains difficult. Thus, in this paper, we provide an overview of energy poverty in 2019 for five Mediterranean countries (Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal) using the EU-SILC database. We overcome a methodological difficulty inherent in pan-European research by developing the same tool, LCA (Latent Class Analysis) for characterizing energy poverty in all countries. Then we provide decision support in terms of energy poverty policy, without arbitrarily defining a binary tipping point. Indeed, we identify three groups with different needs: energy sufficient households, energy-poor households and more importantly, we highlight a third group which we refer to as energy vulnerable, who can easily fall below the radar of policy makers because they are not initially defined as precarious.

The reproduction of informal settlements in Santiago: Housing policy, cycles of repopulation and the ‘politics of poverty’ as a regime of government

This article analyses the persistence of informal settlements in the city of Santiago, Chile, between 1990 and 2018, a period of democratic governments characterised by falling poverty rates and – paradoxically – state efforts to reduce informality by increasing the provision of housing for low-income groups. Based on a qualitative study that includes document analysis and interviews with poor urban residents and governmental actors, I describe one mechanism of informal housing reproduction: the cyclical repopulation of informal urbanisations, that is, the intertwined processes of relocation of informal residents and the reoccupation of settlement sites by new families. In contrast to dichotomous understandings of informality that explain informal housing as produced by residents’ poverty, the article shows that repopulation cycles respond to a regime of government structured around what I call a ‘politics of poverty’, a framework that labels informal settlements as ‘spatial concentrations of poverty’, therefore creating spatial zones of intervention. While this helps the state to target informal settlements as subjects of poverty policies, residents mobilise the policy’s categories to legitimate informal practices.

Beyond headcount statistics: Exploring the utility of energy poverty gap indices in policy design

Recent energy price spikes have led to increased energy poverty among low-income households living in inefficient homes. Accurate statistics on energy poverty help inform resource allocation and better target relief schemes and retrofit funds. Existing indicators are predominantly defined in terms of a headcount ratio – the share of population living below a certain threshold or poverty line. In this paper we draw from the literature on income poverty evaluation to argue that the use of more elaborate energy poverty gap indices can substantiate the design and monitoring of energy poverty policies, by not only considering incidence but also intensity and inequality of energy poverty across households. We demonstrate that the choice for a particular energy poverty (gap) indicator makes the implicit welfare choices of energy poverty policies explicit. We illustrate our arguments for the case of the Netherlands, using recently developed microdata statistics on energy poverty, and an imposed energy price shock. We show that spatial targeting of relief funds based on incidence would neglect the full depth of energy poverty deprivation. Finally, we argue that visualisation techniques from the income poverty literature help to comprehend different poverty orderings and draw comparisons between time periods, regions, and subgroups.

Keep out the cold: An analysis of potential gaps in fuel poverty policies in Ireland

Fuel poverty in Ireland is a significant issue faced by almost a quarter of the population as per government statistics. In this study, we analyse fuel poverty data in Ireland between 2008 and 2020 using the Irish subset of EU SILC data. We find that the increase in the proportion of households receiving Fuel Allowance and the decrease in the proportion of poor-quality dwellings have a significant positive impact on the decline in aggregate fuel poverty experienced. We also analyse a sample of low-income households that experience fuel poverty and compare groups that are targeted by official policies with others on key indicators. We find that the existing supports normally target lower-income households who live in energy-inefficient dwellings and are of retirement age. We also find that non-targeted larger urban families who live in rented or mortgaged dwellings experience significant fuel poverty due to difficulty paying bills. We identify some gaps in the current policies that target fuel poverty. We propose that fully funded energy efficiency retrofits and social transfers for vulnerable households to help with the cost of heating, which are policies already used in Ireland to target fuel poverty, should be expanded to effectively reach a cohort of the population that is facing challenges to keep warm.

체제전환 이후 발틱 3국의 실업과 빈곤, 그리고 사회정책적 대응

The purpose of this study is to identify the patterns of unemployment and poverty experienced after systemic transition in the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and social policy responses to solve them, using literature analysis and non-face-to-face interview methods. As a result of the analysis, the three Baltic countries were exposed to the social problems of unemployment and poverty in the process of introducing a radical market economy system, and the social policies to solve them were unemployment assistance (1991), unemployment insurance (1996 and 2002), It was the ALMP (early 2000s), the poverty policy (early 2000s) with definitions and targets for poverty, and official poverty lines. The post-socialist social policies of the three Baltic countries in response to the realities of the socialist welfare system, such as concealed unemployment under full employment, formal job placement and weak vocational training, and the universalization of poverty hidden behind propaganda, were ex post and weak in policy effectiveness.

Is the analysis scale crucial to assess energy poverty? analysis of yearly and monthly assessments using the 2 M indicator in the south of Spain

Energy poverty has been addressed as a global problem. Many studies have been conducted, and several indicators have been established to detect energy poverty. However, most analyses have been performed at a yearly level without considering the differences throughout the year. This study performed a sensitivity analysis to determine these differences using the 2 M indicator in 36,230,400 case studies in the south of Spain, which is a warm zone with great energy poverty, as well as vulnerable to climate change effects. The results showed that monthly assessment could increase energy poverty situations in the months with greater climate severity, compared to yearly assessment. That increase in winter and summer months raised energy poverty cases over 20 %, with these months being those with greater vulnerability due to cold and heat waves, respectively. The results also showed that variations were independent of both the technical characteristics of the dwelling and the use of HVAC systems. Energy poverty cases were reduced only in the summer months with the adaptive approach, which considers thermal adaptation. The use of the 2 M indicator in monthly scales can detect vulnerable family units that cannot be detected by yearly studies, so monthly scales are crucial for governments to adopt energy poverty policies and strategies.