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This article provides the theoretical and empirical context to the papers contained in this special issue. We provide background on the recent developed country financial crisis and perspective via a review of prior shocks and crises. The paper then considers the transmission mechanisms through which economic crises can affect economies and individuals in the developing world. The linkages centre on trade, capital flows and remittances. This section also critically surveys the literature concerning the macroeconomic and microeconomic impact of such crises on developing countries. Finally, we review the papers that comprise the special issue, before providing some policy conclusions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a survey paper on aid effectiveness in terms of the contribution of development assistance to economic growth and poverty reduction. The article focuses primarily on the most recent generation of cross-country studies. It concludes that there is a set of broad areas where the evidence reviewed shows signs of convergence that have direct relevance for policy decisions on aid and for aid-effectiveness discussions. These areas are: aid levels (meaning if the level of aid is too low or too high); domestic political institutions (including political stability and the extent of decentralisation); the composition of aid (including sectors, modalities, objectives and time horizons); and the volatility and fragmentation of aid. We also identify two areas where there is little sign of convergence in the evidence: the importance or otherwise of 'good', meaning orthodox macroeconomic policies and whether grants are more effective than loans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African continent has grown by more than 4 percent yearly on average during the past decade. However, the link between this remarkable growth rate and poverty reduction is neither obvious nor simple. This paper focuses on the elasticity of poverty with respect to GDP growth at the sectoral level and takes into account the fact that economic growth may affect poverty directly as well as indirectly through sectoral labor share intensity. It develops a methodology that sheds light on the contribution of sectoral growth to poverty reduction country-by-country in Africa, guiding policy recommendations. As the composition of growth matters at least as much as its overall intensity, it is key to identify the sectors that have the strongest impact on poverty reduction and unleash their potential; if growth happens to concentrate in sectors with scarce pro-poor potential, like commodity-driven growth, redistributive strategies are necessary to compensate the weak effect on poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses a simple macroeconomic model to estimate the impact of debt relief and terms of trade shocks on growth and poverty in African countries. For the 18 heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) that reached the enhanced HIPC decision point by end-December 2000, the basic quantitative findings are that HIPC debt relief has boosted economic growth in these countries by an average of 2.9 percent per annum and that the computed result of this increase in growth is a reduction in poverty by an average of 2.2 percent per annum. However, the paper shows that recent deteriorations in the terms of trade have counter-balanced these positive effects by lowering growth by an average of 2.0 percent per annum and by increasing poverty by an average of 1.3 percent per annum. Clearly, much of the positive impact emanating from the HIPC Initiative has been eroded due to recent deteriorations in the terms of trade. The paper also estimates the net effect on growth and poverty of the recently agreed 100 percent multilateral debt relief. This is predicted to boost economic growth by an average of 5 percent per annum and reduce poverty by about 5.3 percent per annum for the group of all African HIPCs. The paper concludes that 100 percent debt relief is crucial for Africa, but that more aid and policies need to be focused on a long-term development strategy that fosters the necessary structural transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last thirty years, remarkable achievements have been made in China's poverty reduction course. The dramatic fall in China's poor can be attributed mainly to a high rate of economic growth, government poverty reduction policies and targeted programmes and pro-poor macroeconomic and industrial policies. This paper focuses on China's poverty reduction policies and programmes and their impact on the poor regions and poor households. Lessons are drawn for poverty reduction and economic development in African countries. The paper also explores the potential for collaboration in poverty reduction between China and African countries and recommendations are made for the governments and donor agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of economic growth, and more specifically robust economic growth along with other macroeconomic determinants, on poverty levels using both the U.S. official measure of poverty and an estimated time series of Sen indices of poverty. The results reveal that the period of robust economic expansion that the U.S. economy experienced during the 1990s did not have a significant impact on poverty using either measure. In addition, we find that the impact of growth and other macro controls is dramatically different when a subset of the poverty population, namely non-white poverty, is investigated. The percentage of households headed by women is shown to be a significant factor in examining poverty for this subgroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of remittances on cross-country poverty using a panel data set from 65 developing counties over a long period 1970-2008. This study differs from the existing literature on poverty impact of remittances by explicitly noting the importance of financial development in shaping the link. This analysis shows that the effect of remittances on poverty depends on the level of financial development of a remittances receiving economy. Those economies that have a low level of financial development seem to acquire an unfavourable effect of remittances while economies with comparatively developed financial systems do not suffer from the adverse effects of remittances. In sum, remittances accentuate not ameliorate poverty in countries with the low level of financial development. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses three aspects of the micro–macro linkage which are of particular interest to economists. First, is the issue of how changes in the macro environment are transmitted to and impact on agents at the micro level. Second, there is the issue of how micro agents react to their environments, and how these different reactions in turn become an aggregate effect which influences macro conditions. The relationship between poverty and growth, and the response of peasant farmers to price changes, are taken as examples to illustrate the discussion. Finally, we address the political dimension of the linkage, namely how can micro agents transmit their experiences and reactions upwards to influence macro policy-makers? © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent-maximisation model would have in developing countries, and argues that a more gradual approach would be preferable. The welfare function of small-scale fisheries, namely, their capacities to provide labour and cash income to resource-poor households, should be preserved until the appropriate macroeconomic conditions for rent-maximisation and redistribution are fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the empirical foundation of macroeconomic conservatism is fragile and that the intellectual momentum exists to develop a viable alternative to current orthodoxy. This would entail a renewed commitment to employment creation as a core goal of macroeconomic policy and creating fiscal space to sustain investments in infrastructure and human development. It would also entail an emphasis on comprehensive social protection to deal with economic insecurity engendered by macroeconomic volatility.

Focuses on the arguments regarding the relationship between the economic growth and poverty reduction. Impact of the macroeconomic planning integration on the economic growth; Influence of the capital account liberalization on the economic benefits; Analysis on the income distribution of the developing countries.

For Fiji, the decade after political independence in 1970 provided economic and political room for manoeuvre based upon levelling the uneven playing field of the colonial inheritance. But by the end of the 1970s, issues of post-colonial macroeconomic imbalances and structural poverty were emerging. The economic debates of the 1980s opened up a range of policy choices. Only after the coups of 1987 did the IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment approach gain dominance. The coups were in the interest of a chiefly group who are able to benefit from partial exposure to market forces--providing this exposure excludes land--a position accepted in IMF/World Bank recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Auszug Die Effizienz des Sozialschutzes im Kampf gegen Armut und Bedürftigkeit, bei der Abfederung von Schocks, der Verringerung sozialer Ungleichheit und der Förderung von langfristigem Wachstum ist bewiesen, doch effiziente Systeme der sozialen Sicherung sind in vielen Entwicklungsländern sowie in Ländern mit geringem Einkommen seit geraumer Zeit ein unbezahlbarer Luxus. Das Konzept eines Sockels der sozialen Sicherung besteht in der Einrichtung eines garantierten Minimums an sozialer Sicherheit zu einem vernünftigen Preis, auch in einem Umfeld knapper Ressourcen; ein Sockel, der als Plattform für die graduelle Einführung eines umfassenden Systems der sozialen Sicherheit dient. Die Einführung und Aufrechterhaltung eines solchen Sockels bzw. seine Ausdehnung setzt die gegenwärtige und zukünftige Mobilisierung von Haushaltsmitteln voraus. Der vorliegende Artikel argumentiert, dass bei der Schaffung des dafür notwendigen finanzpolitischen Spielraums zunächst die Vorhersehbarkeit sorgfältig analysiert werden muss, ferner auch die Auswirkungen gegenwärtiger Finanzierungsentscheidungen auf die längerfristige finanzielle Tragfähigkeit von Steuern und Schulden, die gesamtwirtschaftliche Stabilität, Ungleichheit, Armutsminderung und das Wachstum und somit auf den zukünftigen finanziellen Spielraum. Aus dieser Perspektive untersucht der Artikel die Auswirkungen der Schaffung von Haushaltsmitteln durch die zusätzliche Bereitstellung von Ressourcen innerhalb des Landes, ferner durch Neuzuweisung von Ausgaben oder Effizienzsteigerung, Reduzierung des Schuldendienstes oder externe Finanzierungsquellen. Er präsentiert auch eine breite Palette von Maßnahmen zu einem vernünftigen Preis, die auf langfristig tragbare Art und Weise in Ländern mit unterschiedlichen Einkommens- und Entwicklungsniveaus getroffen worden sind, sowohl mit eigenen Ressourcen als auch mit externer Finanzierung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]