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Discusses the economic aspects of Asia's poor as of April 1998. Mention that insurance companies in Hong Kong are reporting record results at the same time as the city's unemployment rate is rising; The rise in television viewing in Thailand as newly poor stay home rather than go out to eat or shop; Amway Malaysia being one of ING Barings' top-ten growth picks for the country.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues, including "Lovely While it Lasts," in the August 9, 1997 issue, "What Happened to the Stiff Upper Lip?," in the August 9, 1997 issue, and "Fun for the Masses," in the August 2 1997 issue.

Looks at results from a statistical model that predicted what would happen to United States children's prospects if poor families incomes were increased from $15,000 to $30,000 a year. Susan Mayer of the University of Chicago as developer of the model; Two reasons for the results; The suggestion of an important factor overlooked by Mayer.

Reports that the world's financial leaders have gathered in Madrid, Spain for the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to debate about the world's poor continues. Mandate of the World Bank is to alleviate poverty in poor countries; Intention of the IMF to help countries out of financial difficulties; Study conducted by Elliot Berg, an American development economist, which suggests that life for the world's poor may not have deteriorated during the 1980s; Study on Latin America conducted by Oxfam, a British charity, which suggests that after a decade of structural adjustment, and despite economic growth, more people than ever are living in poverty.

The article assesses the current economic status of the Russian people. At the start of April 1993 the average wage was 23,559 roubles. For a start, converting average wages into dollars at the market exchange-rate makes Russians look artificially poor by international standards. Calculations of purchasing-power parity suggest that the market hugely under-values the rouble. Second, most basic goods and services-housing, heat, electricity, water, public transport-are so cheap in Russia as to be almost free. In general there are few signs that many Russians are any worse nourished than they have always been.

The article contends that Africa is the only continent in the poor world where people ended the 1980s worse off than they were at the start. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank are convenient targets. The typical African grumble against them runs thus: from their plush offices in Washington, these institutions make life miserable for Africans, so that African governments can take out loans which they are then unable to repay. Most of the Bank's economists say that Africa's performance has been disappointing not because the gospel is wrong, but because it has not been properly implemented. The Bank's other defense is that some of its recent studies on Africa- of which there are horribly many- suggest that the closing years of the 1980s did indeed see stronger growth and lower inflation in the countries it lent to. Most of all, governments must not feel that the Fund and Bank have trampled on their sovereignty.

The article reports that after two decades in which liberal social scientists have tip-toed nervously around the question of family break-up and welfare dependency, debate on the campus has begun to shift ground towards the poor in the U.S. Two books about the inner-city poor published this year illustrate the change. Among a recent crop of studies that returns to this tradition, one, at the University of Chicago, has been particularly instrumental in persuading liberals to recognize what is happening in the ghettos. Part of the impetus behind this new consensus has been several academic studies of the inner-city poor, known in the jargon as ethnography.

Examines key controversies surrounding the goals and performance of the Minister of State for Urban Affairs in Great Britain. Criticisms on the agencies' Vagrants Charter grants program designed to help the urban poor; Areas of failure by the agency; Indications of politics and governance and public administration.

Discusses the difference of lifestyles in Cambodia, where city-dwellers live like kings while the peasants in the country live in horrible poverty. Response of the Khmer Rouge, a peasant guerrilla group; Details.

Comments on the absurdity of the rituals of cargo cultism, in which the world's poor pray for the materialist gods of the rich white nations to bring them alms. Argument that the alternative to supporting cargo-cultism is to allow free movement of people; Examples of cargo cultism; Rejection by most wealthy countries of economic migrants.