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Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in Islamic communities. The World Bank (2010: Poverty profile in Muslim world, from ) estimates that approximately 3 billion people are living in poverty and 46 million more people will come under the income level of US$1.25 a day due to the recent global economic meltdown and slow economic growth rates. Thirty-five percent of these people are Muslims from Islamic countries. The global Muslim community has an essential role to play in addressing the injustice of global poverty through zakat. Zakat is an Islamic faith-based institution and is being underutilized for poverty reduction in many of these poor Muslim countries. Since zakat constitutes one of the pillars of Islam, it is logical to assume that policy makers among Muslims should pay serious attention to it. However, that is not the case for many Muslim countries and this paper will show that not all Muslim countries are seriously applying zakat in its strategy of combating poverty. This paper will specifically examine the role and effect of zakat in three Muslim countries ( Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia) providing the facts of countries that practise zakat in comparison with those that do not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An income growth pattern is pro-poor if it reduces a (chosen) measure of poverty by more than if all incomes were growing equiproportionately. Inequality reduction is not sufficient for pro-poorness. In this paper, we explore the nexus between pro-poorness, growth, and inequality in some detail using simulations involving the displaced lognormal, Singh- Maddala, and Dagum distributions. For empirically relevant parameter estimates, distributional change preserving the functional form of each of these three-parameter distributions is often either pro-poor and inequality reducing, or pro-rich and inequality exacerbating, but it is also possible for pro-rich growth to be inequality reducing. There is some capacity for each of these distributions to show trickle effects (weak pro-richness) along with inequality-reducing growth, but virtually no possibility of pro-poorness for growth which increases overall inequality. Implications are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global economic, demographic and geopolitical as well as internal developments since the signature of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement in 2000 have had a profound impact on relations between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group. The paper analyses the process of adaptation in the areas of development cooperation and in the political and security context, reflected in two revisions in 2005 and 2010. It discusses the influence of the Lisbon Treaty on the objective of poverty reduction, and the role of EU values and security concerns. The negotiation of new trading arrangements compatible with the World Trade Organisation triggered a veritable storm in ACP-EU relations. The paper discusses factors, which proved to be major hurdles to the successful and timely conclusion of the Economic Partnership Agreements, as real trade between the two groups saw a reversal of the downward trend and the ACP recovered part of the previously lost market share of ACP goods in total EU imports. The exclusivity of the flagship partnership has started to crumble as the importance of new partners increased both on ACP and EU side. The author maintains that with the Cotonou Partnership Agreement's purpose defined as solely supporting the development of the ACP countries, it is not surprising that it does not count among the strategic partnerships from the EU perspective. Yet, it is too early to predict the future of the ACP-EU relationship beyond 2020, but both the EU and the ACP have an interest in starting off their discussions and negotiations on their future relationship on the right footing. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper studies the socio-economic determinants of violence in the seven most important cities in Colombia. Derived from theories rooted in classic works, including Becker's paradigm, criminal inertia, social disorganisation, urbanism and strain, we formulate several hypotheses on the socio-economic determinants of violence. To test these hypotheses, a dynamic panel data analysis is employed. The analysis shows that cities' deprivation and high population density are strong predictors of homicide rates. Comparing the results among Colombian cities, we find support indicating that city-level homicide rates are influenced by the city's level of development. Moreover, we find evidence that economic growth, inequality, poverty and human capital influence violence in the cities studied, which could generate negative effects on the economic and social development of Colombia. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of the economic growth in Cote d'Ivoire on the poor people. We use household data from two LSMS (1992 and 2002) led by the National Statistical Office of Côte d'Ivoire. We show that the situation in this country is characterized by a trickle-down growth: the poverty growth curve and the growth incidence curve computed show that growth reduces poverty but the poor people receive proportionally fewer benefits than the non-poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. In recent years, a growing number of authors have turned their attention to the question of why children work. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the more recent theoretical and empirical research into the topic of child labour, and to illustrate the fact that no one factor on its own can account for the phenomenon of child labour. Therefore, policies aimed at eradicating child labour will need to address the broad range of underlying factors that contribute to the incidence of child labour, such as poverty, market imperfections and access to education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many low- and middle-income countries are achieving good rates of economic growth, while high inequality remains a priority concern. Some countries meanwhile have low growth, high inequality, and pervasive poverty-often linked to their fragility. There is now active debate on how countries should set themselves goals for achieving both absolute poverty reduction and lower inequality. But policy action needs to be better served by analysis and data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of tourism on total and extreme monetary poverty, in order to illuminate the debate surrounding the links between tourism and poverty. We apply fixed effects models to panel data on the Peruvian departments for the period 2001-2013. We also identify the key factors in the tourism model affecting the empirical results. Our findings show that tourism is important for the poor, but its benefits do not reach the extreme poor to the same extent, and its potential is not fully exploited. The weak macroenvironment and low community participation impede poverty reduction through tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International labour migration is a multidimensional process and primarily a family mechanism intended to reduce vulnerabilities associated with underlying inequalities. However, for immigrants, the break-up of physical contact with family members is an enduring feature of vulnerability in their communication with origins (often in developing countries). On the whole, family relationships are transformed: the absence of physical contact is traded-off with remittances sent home to family members. Remittances create potential for resilience by increasing human development of children, while reducing extreme poverty at the local level. Remittance flows are also an important source of foreign exchange for countries of origin. However, labour markets' polarization, backlash, and economic downturns at destinations (often in developed countries), and governments' moral hazard, currency revaluation, and production inertia at origins recreate vulnerabilities and disrupt the potential build-up of resilience. In fact, the re-creation of vulnerabilities largely outweighs the generation of resilience threads. The paper develops a typology that highlights the dynamic interaction between vulnerabilities and resilience, revealing the multiple aspects of people and remittances flows, the potential for mainstreaming migration policies into economic development, and the scale of the policy task to reduce vulnerabilities associated to international labour migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data for provinces compiled from household expenditure microdata, the present paper empirically investigates the relationships among growth, poverty and inequality in Thailand and the Philippines. The empirical model avoids the potential bias due to the fact that the entire distribution of individual-level consumption changes over time and empirical variables for growth, poverty and inequality are often compiled from the consumption distribution. The system generalized method of moments estimation results strongly suggest that inequality reduced the growth rate of per-capita consumption, and that differences in inequality explain a substantial portion of the Philippine-Thai difference in growth and poverty reduction since the late 1980s. [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 presents a brief account of welfare changes in Zimbabwe along the income and education dimensions between 1995 and 2003. Using sequential dominance procedures, we find that education attainment substantially improved over time. However, these gains did not necessarily translate into poverty reduction, rather welfare over the joint distribution of income and education dramatically deteriorated. These results are robust for all education partitions, income thresholds and a broad class of welfare indices. A further inquiry into the factors underlying this apparent disconnection between education and income using decomposition techniques reveals that the increase in poverty incidence cannot be attributed to household characteristics but is reflective of the broader socio-economic trends prevailing at the time. The decline in economic growth contributed tremendously to the decline in welfare while inequality changes account for a small proportion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development practitioners and governments continue to grapple with how best to ensure the participation of socially excluded and marginalised groups in the development of poverty reduction strategy plans and national development programmes. This paper analyses the challenges involved in ensuring that persons with disabilities and their representative organisations are effectively included in such initiatives, using examples from recent practices in Uganda. It concludes by making some tentative recommendations on how such initiatives can be genuinely inclusive. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a survey of the literature on inequality in China – level, change, causes, and consequences. It attempts to answer six main questions. How much has inequality risen? What is its relation to poverty alleviation? What has happened to wealth inequality? What are the main dimensions of rising income inequality? The dimensions examined are: the rural–urban divide; urban labor market reform; regional divergence; rural–urban migration; and entrepreneurship, rent-seeking, and corruption. Was it inevitable that inequality should rise so much? Does it matter that inequality has risen? Income distribution in China is bound up with both economic reform and economic growth. This paper concludes by considering the countervailing forces that will determine the path of inequality in future years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If development assistance targeted at specific sectors is not used as intended, aid is said to be fungible. While fungible aid is in general perceived as being less effective than aid used as specified, this has not been formally tested. This paper attempts at filling this gap and hence, tries to assess to what extent fungibility is something donors should be concerned about. Country-specific estimates of fungibility are obtained for 57 aid-recipient countries, suggesting that sectoral aid is indeed fungible on average. These estimates are then incorporated into an empirical model of aid and economic growth. I do not find any evidence of non-fungible sectoral aid working better than fungible aid. Then, I focus on sectoral aid to ‘pro-poor’ government expenditure sectors to assess the effect on infant mortality. While the results indicate that non-fungible aid is welfare improving, this is not robust to small changes in the specification. My results suggest that the concept of fungibility may be too narrow and should possibly not be the most central concern when aid is debated or given. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased trade openness and rapid market-oriented transformation have largely altered the patterns of wealth accumulation and wealth distribution in post-reform China. In the present paper, with the help of Chinese provincial level data over the period of 1986 to 2000, simultaneous equations estimation and generalized method of moment techniques are applied to investigate the relationship between trade and poverty in urban China. Empirical results suggest that China's trade liberalization helps to reduce urban poverty both directly and indirectly through its favorable impacts on economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence on growth and income poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Results are obtained by processing microdata from household surveys of 18 LAC countries covering the 1990s and early 2000s. Over this period the LAC economies experienced heterogeneous patterns of growth and poverty changes. Most countries in the region had a rather meager performance in terms of poverty reduction. Episodes of positive, significant and unambiguously pro-poor income growth have been rare in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses the Poverty Analysis Macroeconomic Simulator (PAMS), a World Bank framework and updates its interface with the Cameroon government macroeconomic framework to analyze the potential impact of the implementation of the HIPC initiative on poverty alleviation. According to the main findings, it is very likely that Cameroon would succeed in achieving the poverty Millennium Development Goal. However, this result would be feasible if and only if the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) is fully implemented. That is not very certain because of the failure already observed during the first year of PRSP implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates that recent protests in Bolivia must be linked to the failure of efforts to improve democratic participation in the country. It argues that such failures can be traced to a history of prejudices in national development and society and persistent biases and contradictions within international development policy and institutions. Despite these obstacles, the paper concludes that ideas for appropriate development and realistic alternatives for change to government and democracy are visible in recent critical development thinking and amongst the different social and cultural groupings involved in the demonstrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the trend, constraints, promotion, and prospects of investment – domestic investment, foreign direct investment, and private portfolio investment – in Africa. After identifying the importance of investment in Africa's economic development, it was shown that all forms of investment are low in Africa and hence inadequate for the attainment of the MDGs and poverty reduction in the continent. The constraining factors include: low resources mobilization; high degree of uncertainty; poor governance, corruption, and low human capital development; unfavorable regulatory environment and poor infrastructure, small individual country sizes; high dependence on primary commodities exports and increased competition; poor image abroad; shortage of foreign exchange and the burden of huge domestic and external debt; and undeveloped capital markets, their high volatility, and home bias by foreign investors. The paper recommends that successful promotion of both domestic, foreign direct and portfolio investment in Africa will require actions and measures at the national, regional, and international levels. It concludes that the prospects are bright. New and attractive investment opportunities are emerging in infrastructure, particularly as most African countries now encourage public/private partnerships for investments in this sector. In addition to privatization, renewed interest within Africa in undertaking regionally based projects and joint exploitation of natural resources is creating other investment opportunities. Apart from the fact that investment in Africa yields the highest returns, investment risk in the continent is declining. In addition, much progress has been made in recent years to improve the investment climate in Africa. All this is of course is not to deny that obstacles do remain hence economic reforms to enhance domestic investment would need to be complemented by measures to attract increased foreign capital. Critical in such endeavors must be efforts to improve governance in some countries as well as to eliminate socio-political violence in others and development of domestic capital markets, while government institutions must be modernized and upgraded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that an important requirement of the MIRAB model, economic success in the host country, is a characteristic of Pacific Islander migrants to the USA and their offspring. Pacific Islanders improved their economic lot in the 1980s and again in the 1990s. Part of this improvement was due to increases in their human capital: Pacific Islanders acquired more education, work experience and better English language skills. This upgrading allowed more workers to acquire white-collar jobs and to increase their earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late 1960s, Harold Brookfield and Doreen Hart were ‘startled’ by the order of magnitude differences in incomes from village cash cropping in different parts of Papua New Guinea (PNG). This paper traces these differences, back into a pre-colonial past and forward to the present and concludes, as Brookfield did in the 1960s, that severe environmental constraints, rather than market forces, are the primary cause of the pattern of spatial inequalities observable in PNG. Brookfield noted the existence of an ‘acute dilemma’ in 1960s development funding: should funds be invested where the returns will be highest, or where the need is greatest. This dilemma is as acute today as it was then. However, in the meantime, people from poor places are moving to better-off places, seeking access to markets for their produce and health and education services for their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, based on fieldwork results, explores traditional management systems (TMS) in the arid zone fisheries of north-eastern Nigeria with particular reference to their impact on rural poverty. The first section provides a historical background by tracing the evolution of the TMS since the nineteenth century, with reference to government policy on fisheries management and poverty alleviation. The second gives an overview of TMS, including definitions, distribution, principal objectives, regulatory mechanisms and the impact of TMS on the performance of the fisheries and on the livelihoods of rural people. The third considers the perceptions and attitudes of the fishing communities with regards to the fisheries and TMS. The paper concludes, paradoxically, that while TMS provide a basis for the sustainable livelihoods of many fishing people, they also reflect and enforce the social positions of the rich and powerful members of society who oversee them, at the expense of the poor. In the future, poverty alleviation in fisheries will need to incorporate both sectoral and non-sectoral strategies– dealing with the existing‘paradox of TMS’ by encouraging appropriate institutional changes and community development, and recognizing the importance of employment creation in other sectors of the economy as a source of alternative income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the importance of international development targets and education in ending poverty in developing countries. Education targets that have been discussed in policy arenas in 2005; Importance of poverty reduction targets to developing countries; Advantages of International Development Education Targets and Millennium Development Goals which has been redefined in different arenas.

Large amounts of investments are made by developing countries in designing and implementing poverty alleviation programmes. Many of such programmes are also targeted at well defined beneficiaries. This paper attempts to analyse if some segments of beneficiaries are more likely to benefit from these programmes vis-à-vis other beneficiaries. From an econometric analysis of primary data collected from the SITRA programme in India it was found that the socially and economically disadvantaged sections of beneficiaries were more likely to have benefited from the programme, under which improved toolkits were provided to poor rural artisans at ninety per cent subsidy. The conclusions have important policy implications as they lead to possible win-win situations as narrower targeting of the same poverty alleviation programme on more disadvantaged sections could achieve higher growth as well as greater reduction of poverty. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [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]

There has been a growing recognition of the role of Non-Governmental Development Organizations (NGDOs) in strengthening civil society as an effective strategy for poverty eradication. This approach includes broad-based development ownership and empowerment of the poor. The paper argues that in the context of globalization NGDOs need to focus on expanding space for poor people to engage with emerging forms of states and markets for their livelihood advantage. This implies creating space where the poor can effectively negotiate the global discourses and frameworks of development from their particular experiences and images of reality. In this position, the poor will find room for manoeuvre within which to influence the local, national and global processes and structures for their benefit. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After brief discussion of the general losses refugees incur in connection with displacement, the paper examines empirically the structural and institutional factors that discourage refugees from taking initiatives to recoup their losses and to construct sustainable livelihoods in countries of asylum, as well as the conditions that perpetuate poverty, vulnerability, and marginalisation. The paper argues that in developing countries refugee status, regardless of duration, leads to the acquisition of neither nationality nor denizenship. Basic rights and sources of livelihoods are apportioned on the basis of nationality and not residence. Lack of belonging to a spatially bounded community or geo-political state entity is therefore the single most important factor that prevents formulation and implementation of long-term development programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical investigation of the link between financial development and economic growth has established that finance exerts a significant and positive influence on growth. This paper extends this line of analysis by examining the contribution that financial development makes to poverty reduction in low-income countries. The results reported support the contention that financial sector development policy can contribute to achieving the goal of poverty reduction in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of articles on poverty and economic development. "Broadening the Agenda for Poverty Reduction: Opportunity, Empowerment, Security," by Nora Lustig and Nicholas Stern, published in the 2000 issue of "Finance and Development"; "Building on Poor People's Capacities: The Case of Common Property Resources in India and West Africa," by Tony Beck and Cathy Nesmith, published in the 2001 issue of "World Development"; "Economic Mobility and Poverty Dynamics in Developing Countries," by Bob Baulch and John Hoddinott," published in the 2000 issue of "Journal of Development Studies"; "From the Culture of Poverty to Inclusive Cities: Re-framing Urban Policy and Politics," by Jo Bealt, published in the 2000 issue of "Journal of International Development.

Since 1994 South Africa's macroeconomic strategy has sought to accommodate the forces of globalisation and ensure the country's re-entry into the global economy after two decades (1970-90) of relative international economic isolation. One key component of restructuring for globalisation has been a shift in the burden of responsibility for economic development from national to local government level and of the promotion of local economic development (LED) planning across post-apartheid South Africa. This paper focuses on the issue of LED planning in South Africa as a case study in the local consequences and reactions to globalisation of city regions in the global periphery. The planning of LED in South Africa incorporates international trends towards local promotion of economic growth but also includes a distinct and strong focus on poverty alleviation to deal with the apartheid legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper decomposes changes in poverty into growth and redistribution components and employs several pro-poor growth concepts to explore the growth, poverty and inequality nexus in Sri Lanka over the period 1990-2010. We find a 'trickle-down' situation, in which the poor have received proportionately less benefits from growth than the non-poor. All pro-poor measures suggest that economic growth in Sri Lanka was particularly beneficial for those located at the top of the distribution. Regression-based decompositions suggest that variation in expenditure by education characteristics that persist after controlling for other factors to account for around two-fifths of total household expenditure inequality. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-2015 moment is a moment in time in which multiple efforts are being made to envision a better long-term future for humanity and to forge, post-2015, a new and different global development trajectory. The replacement of the Millennium Development Goals by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is occurring in the shadow of the global financial crisis and the reaching of planetary boundaries that define a safe operating space for humanity. There is thus a need not only for new global goals but also a new global development paradigm. The papers in this special issue examine the SDGs in the making and indicate the extent to which they may be associated with a new global development paradigm. They identify key weaknesses in the emerging SDGs in terms of the articulation of global and local priorities, the failure to address the synergies and trade-offs between different goals and the lack of an underlying policy framework. They also suggest that to be effective, new global goals require new global rules. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unanticipated events can cause considerable economic hardship for poor rural households. Some types of negative shocks, for example weather-related agricultural losses and vector-borne diseases, are expected to occur more frequently as a result of climate change. In this paper we measure the role of household- and location-specific characteristics in conditioning behavioural responses to a wide range of idiosyncratic and covariate shocks. We use data from 8,000 rural households in 25 developing countries, compiled in the global database of the Poverty Environment Network. We employ a hierarchical multinomial logit model to identify the importance of characteristics observed at different levels of aggregation on a set of strategies aimed at coping with economic shocks. Results indicate that in response to idiosyncratic shocks, households tend to deplete financial and durable assets, whereas covariate and thus often climate-related shocks predominantly result in reduced consumption. Households in sites characterised by high asset wealth tend to cope with shocks in a more proactive way than those in sites with average or below average asset wealth, but the role of asset types in conditioning shock responses varies across regions. Our findings have implications for rural development and climate change adaptation strategies. [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 article studies the distribution of well-being and, specifically, the degree of poverty and deprivation in Albania, in the years 2002 and 2005, using Living Standard Measurement Surveys ( LSMS). The distribution analysis is performed by applying both one-dimensional and multidimensional approaches, in particular to better examine the link between economic growth, inequality and poverty in Albania. Furthermore, by estimating a non-monetary indicator, as proposed by Bossert et al. (), and a nonlinear principal component model together with a probit model, the paper focuses on the multidimensional measures of poverty to address the relationship between poverty and socio-economic factors. Our evidence shows that absolute poverty decreased from 2002 to 2005 while national relative poverty increased; economic growth reduced poverty in Albania over the observed period; and living in rural and mountain areas, being female, poorly educated and with a large family increased the probability of suffering from deprivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a growing national economy and a raft of initiatives designed to improve livelihoods, 39% of fishers in West Sumatra are poor. In this paper, we present the results of interview-based research with stakeholders in 25 fishing communities in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Thirty-one enabling and constraining livelihood development factors are identified and classified according to the Sustainable Livelihoods Analysis. We recommend that these factors form a basis from which decision makers ensure that future livelihood improvement programs adequately recognize the integrated nature of poverty amongst poor fishers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-development theorists have reminded us that 'development' is a cultural construct-a set of organising assumptions through which we order the world and understand our place in it. As such, notions of development are not singular but vary between different groups of people. This paper seeks to bring further nuance to these understandings. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on Siquijor Island in the Philippines, it explores contending ideals of the good life-one based on material accumulation, the other on austerity-at once valued by most residents. It shows that notions of development vary not only between groups but that individuals can simultaneously hold multiple ideals of development. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Development Review / Revue Africaine de Développement is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper analyses poverty and calorific undernourishment in the Indian state of Gujarat, where high and market-led industrial growth has resulted in rapid economic improvement. The study is carried out through a combination of secondary and survey-based data. We conclude that the neoliberal agenda of uncontrolled, outward-looking growth has not resulted in significant reduction of poverty or malnourishment in rural areas. Furthermore, while land ownership is officially used as a proxy for wealth distribution, class position appears a better predictor of poverty status in the rural areas than landownership per se. At the policy level, there is a need to revive the agrarian economy and create new non-agricultural assets, and the primary focus in the state must shift to the distribution of created assets rather than a single-minded focus on growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of foreign aid on poverty. The impact of aid on poverty is assessed using dynamic panel estimation techniques, which enable us to control for time-invariant country-specific effects and endogeneity of aid. The results suggest that aid has a significant poverty-reducing effect even after controlling for average income. Specifically, foreign aid is associated with a decline in poverty as measured by the poverty rate, poverty gap index and squared poverty gap index. We also find that the composition of aid matters-multilateral aid and grants do better in reducing poverty than bilateral aid and loans. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a theoretical account of some empirical observations about the relationship between public sector corruption and economic development. These observations include both important regularities and notable anomalies which indicate that there is rather more to this relationship than one is often led to believe. The paper brings together some previous work for the purpose of providing a unified account of the issues involved within the context of a single analytical framework. These include the causality between corruption and development, the persistence of corruption and poverty, the diversity of corruption across countries and the differential impact of corruption in different economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Development is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

China has lifted a record number of people out of poverty, has had sustained levels of economic growth-at environmental and social costs-started a global economic and political rise and is developing effective responses to the global financial crisis. It is making these transformations with institutions that continue to surprise international observers. An increasing number of studies have started to articulate the lessons from China's development. This paper reviews the different interpretations of these lessons, and the process of lesson learning, and the question what China's dramatic transformations over the last 30 years imply for development studies and practice. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparison with most African countries, post-apartheid South Africa appears to be characterised by growth-oriented cooperation between state and business. Economic growth has remained weak, however, and income poverty persists as the economy continues down an inegalitarian growth path that fails to reduce unemployment and thus has little effect on poverty. This paper argues that the appearance of close state-business relations is misleading: selectively pro-market public policies have not reflected a pro-business orientation on the part of the state. The governing African National Congress concurred with established business on the need for increased productivity and selective state interventions in a mixed economy. But most of the political elite overestimated the commandist powers of the state in the short-term, viewed established South African business with deep suspicion if not hostility, and was unwilling to deliberate or negotiate on distributional issues in either formal bilateral or corporatist institutions, or even informally. The state sought to discipline and transform business, not work with it. Unable to sustain an active growth coalition, a pro-poor, developmental coalition was far out of reach. The politics of the governing party precluded substantive concessions on labour market regulation and pushed it towards ever more interventionist 'black economic empowerment' policies. The result was that economic growth remained modest, and of little benefit to the poor. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering sustainability a matter of intergenerational welfare equity, this paper examines whether an optimal development path can also be sustainable. It argues that the general 'zero-net-aggregate-investment' condition for an optimal development path to be sustainable in the sense of the maximin criterion of intergenerational justice is too demanding to be practical, especially in the context of developing countries. It further argues that while the maximin criterion of sustainability may be appealing to the rich advanced industrial countries, for the poor developing countries it implies equalization of poverty across generations, and as such is too costly a moral obligation to be acceptable. The paper suggests that a compromise development policy that follows the optimal growth approach but adopts certain measures to mitigate both the intergenerational and intragenerational welfare inequalities may be more appropriate for these countries. Some of the principal elements of such a policy are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines livelihood conditions and explores policy options for mitigating poverty among tribal communities in Gujarat state, which is experiencing rapid economic growth and widening disparities where tribals are the most poor and deprived. While labour force diversification and migration are important coping mechanisms, these alone may not help lift a large number of the poor out of the poverty trap, which to a large extent is linked to degradation and lack of proper entitlement for managing and using forest resources among these communities. Forest-based livelihood options assume special significance especially in the wake of the emerging policy framework for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, where the main thrust could be on combining regeneration and conservation of forests with right kind of incentives for ensuring sustainable management and use of forest resources within the region. The mechanism of ‘compensated conservation’ proposed by India could prove very useful in this context. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donors increasingly acknowledge that, without the participation of the private sector, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals is unlikely. Up until recently, priority has been given to improving the business enabling environment in developing countries, so as to remove unnecessary impediments to profit-making activity. Whilst this approach has undoubted merit it does not yet seem to be stimulating change at the pace or scale required. This paper argues that there is now a clear case for directly engaging international business in the poverty reduction agenda. It argues that such efforts will have the greatest development impact where profit-making is the driving force, and considers how the impact of such initiatives might best be measured. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, multinationals have attracted both friends and enemies. Foes have argued that they exert adverse influences on the well-being of poor countries in general, and their poorer citizens in particular. Friends have argued that in their wake, multinational corporations bestow on host economies a variety of benefits primarily, but not exclusively, via spillover effects of various sorts. This paper provides a detailed reappraisal of the issues involved and argues that if their adverse effects can be removed by appropriate domestic policies, multinationals can have a potentially major role to play in the alleviation of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature reports that foreign aid contributes to economic growth when economic policies are good. This paper claims that aid can contribute not just to growth but also to pro-poor growth, through increasing the responsiveness of social indicators to economic growth. The empirical evidence we present is in favour of this claim, suggesting that both aid itself and a recipient government's budget share allocated to social services tend to increase the (absolute) size of the income elasticity of poverty and infant mortality, and that, moreover, aid tends to increase this budget share. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]