Search

In China, the battle to end poverty has now undergone a transformation from quantitative to qualitative poverty alleviation. This shift has been reflected mainly in the form of achievements in rural and regional poverty alleviation, and of poverty alleviation achievements driven by institutional changes. President Xi Jinping’s important discussions on poverty alleviation have played a key role in the adapting of Marxist anti-poverty theory to the Chinese context, and provide scientific guidance for China in its momentous struggle to consign poverty to the past. The institutional advantages of socialism provide a strong guarantee of success for China’s poverty alleviation, and the country’s great achievements in this endeavor also reflect the institutional advantages possessed by China since the reform and opening up. After eliminating absolute poverty, China needs to establish a long-term mechanism to address relative poverty and to consolidate and expand its achievements in the poverty alleviation field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s eradication of absolute poverty represents a major contribution to world development, a contribution that could not have been achieved without applying a strategy of targeted poverty alleviation. Implementing this strategy has in turn depended fundamentally on the functioning of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. First, the system has been oriented towards comprehensively addressing and systematically solving the problem of absolute poverty through unifying short-term relief with long-term empowerment. Second, the logic underlying the system construction has involved a coupling and interaction between the government and the market. The system of mobilizing resources nationwide for poverty alleviation has featured a “trinity” in which the central government has provided an overarching guide while paired assistance has occurred between developed and less developed areas, and while local governments have played a dynamic role. This involves having subjective and endogenous forces from poverty alleviation to poverty eradication, providing comprehensive assistance in fields from systemic change to intervention at the micro level, and enabling integrated operations in areas from targeting to policy implementation and empowerment. Third, the effectiveness of the system is reflected in the high quality, long-term effectiveness and endogenous motivation that have been features of China’s effort to overcome poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most existing poverty research focused on the identification of households in absolute poverty; few studies attempted to identify households in relative poverty (HRP). In this paper, we first developed an improved Bayes's theorem algorithm to sense individuals' spatio-temporal behavior characteristics via integrating mobile phone signaling, electricity consumption, and Points of Interest. We then utilized the improved random forest to identify HRP based on individuals' spatio-temporal behavior characteristics and building properties. A total of 29,370 urban households in Fengchan community, Zhengzhou, China, were selected to conduct this study. The accuracy rate was about 90% when it was verified against the household survey data. Three conclusions can be drawn from our analysis: (1) the individuals' spatio-temporal behavior characteristics played a more critical role in identifying HRP than building properties, (2) the identification accuracy of multi-source data is higher than that of single-source data, (3) mobile phone signaling records and building footprints data are more important in identifying HRP in low-rise buildings, while electricity consumption data is more crucial in the identification in high-rise buildings. Our proposed methods can accurately identify urban HRP, which is helpful to target interventions in the most needed areas. Our findings can inform relief policies in similar cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay theorizes a connection between referential instability and British imperial collapse in Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Last September. It argues that the felt experiences of the rapidly shifting historical situation in Ireland must be understood through the novel's linguistic indirection. By tracing the development of "enabling generalizations," it shows how the novel's dialogic language exposes the unstable nature of colonial identification—evidenced in the volatility of setting—while offering a formal strategy for grappling with that very instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminological writing on the poverty-crime nexus has suffered from a lack of engagement with academic work about the definition of poverty. Furthermore, researchers who have connected nations’ crime rates to their poverty levels have tended to use infant mortality rates (a health outcome variable) as a proxy for poverty. This article presents findings from the first study of cross-national crime differences to use measures of “absolute” poverty (% with purchasing power under $1.90 per day at 2011 prices) and “relative” poverty (% with income below 50% of the national median). Both measures correlated positively with rates of assault/mugging, stealing, homicide, and intimate partner violence against women. Relative poverty is closely connected to inequality, while absolute poverty is closely connected to low socio-economic development, so the findings are consistent with the view that economic inequality is generally criminogenic whereas modernisation is not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: US government poverty measures do not include health insurance in the threshold or health insurance benefits in resources. Yet the 2019 Economic Report of the President presented long-term trends using the full-income poverty measure (FPM), which includes health insurance benefits as resources. A 2021 technical advisory report recommended statistical agencies produce absolute poverty trends with and without health insurance. Methods: The authors analyzed the conceptual validity and relevance of long-term absolute poverty trends incorporating health insurance benefits. They estimated the extent to which the FPM credits health insurance benefits with meeting nonhealth needs. Findings: In FPM estimates, health insurance benefits alone remove many households from poverty. Long-term absolute poverty trends incorporating health insurance benefits have intrinsic difficulties, because health insurance benefits are in-kind, mostly nonfungible, and large, and because health care undergoes substantial technological change—features that interact to undermine validity. Valid poverty measures with health insurance benefits require resources and thresholds consistent at each point in time, while absolute poverty measures require thresholds constant in real terms over time. These goals conflict. Conclusions: Statistical agencies should not produce absolute poverty trends incorporating health insurance benefits. Instead, they should focus on less-absolute poverty measures with health insurance benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Pricing of gasoline and the necessity of reforms in this area are perpetual concerns among experts and policymakers of the country. By allocating a large volume of subsidy to gasoline, not only has the main goal of supporting the poor classes of the society remained unrealized, but it has also created various problems such as excessive consumption, smuggling, and the spread of pollution. In this study, an effort is made to propose a new pricing policy for gasoline with the aim of reducing poverty in the society. In this scenario, a certain allocation (60 liters per month at a fixed price of 15000 Rials) will be preserved, and only non-allocated gasoline will be subject to a floating price and a 5% tax based on consumption. This study introduces a scenario and examines its effects on various types of poverty (absolute and relative) compared to the current situation. Methodology: The gasoline consumption data of 78255 households residing in the provinces of the country during the years 2017-2020 were collected and categorized into four groups (less than 60 liters, 60 to 80 liters, 80 to 120 liters, and more than 120 liters). This was based on the view that the amount of gasoline consumption is a part of the household income. The data were derived from expenditure surveys conducted by the Statistical Center of Iran. By employing an ideal demand system model and seemingly unrelated regression method, the share of nine selected commodity groups from the household consumption basket, including (food, clothing and footwear, housing, water, sewage, fuel, lighting, health and medical services; gasoline; transportation excluding gasoline; cultural and recreational services, prepared foods, hotels, and restaurants, and other goods and services) were examined while taking into account demographic variables including household size, gender, age, marital status, employment status, education, and home ownership of the heads of households. Price and income elasticities were extracted, the Compensating Variation (CV) measure of changes was calculated, and household cost information, poverty (absolute and relative) simulation and estimation were conducted, assuming the implementation of the proposed scenario. Findings and Discussion: The income elasticity of gasoline demand is less than one for all consumption categories. This elasticity has the highest value for consumption categories of less than 60 liters per month (the monthly allocation) and indicates a higher sensitivity of this category compared to other gasoline consumption categories. With the increase of income, the gasoline consumption of this group, as it has not yet reached its saturation point, increases more than other groups. For non-rationed consumption, there is a positive income elasticity trend alongside an increase in gasoline consumption, indicating that gasoline consumption also increases with increasing income. The elasticity of gasoline price showed that this commodity is essential for households, and an increase in its price has no significant effect on their consumption. Nevertheless, gasoline consumers within the monthly rationed range (60 liters) have a stronger reaction to price changes, and any price change affects the basic needs of households belonging to this consumption category. Households belonging to the consumption category of more than 120 liters have the lowest price elasticity, and it is necessary to change the pricing method to make them sensitive to the price of gasoline. Implementing the proposed scenario and imposing taxes on the consumption exceeding the allocated ration for households will result in changes in the welfare of households based on their level of consumption. To estimate the Compensating Variation (CV), the percentage change in the allocated budget share of the commodity group, the approximate relative price changes, and Hicksian price elasticity (compensation) were calculated. By implementing the policy of imposing taxes on excess consumption, households that consume between 60 to 80 liters of gasoline monthly will receive an additional 800,467 Rials for their welfare, and households with consumption between 80 to 120 liters and over 120 liters monthly will lose 5,843,089 Rials and 21,361,290 Rials of welfare, respectively. After adding and subtracting the calculated welfare to household expenses, simulations were performed, and poverty (absolute and relative) was recalculated. The results showed that adding welfare to low-consumption households reduces the poverty rate compared to the current situation. Among the demographic variables examined, except for the virtual age variable, which has an inverse relationship with gasoline consumption, the other demographic variables including household size, home ownership, gender, education, employment, income ownership, and marital status of the heads of households have significant and direct relationships with gasoline consumption Conclusion and Policy Implications: Currently, the policy of stabilizing gasoline prices in a two-tiered system (allocated and non-allocated prices) is being implemented, which will not be a logical solution in inflationary conditions. A solution needs to be proposed to partially amend and control the gasoline consumption pattern while taking into account the social-political dimensions of pricing reforms. Therefore, in this study, the scenario of non-allocated gasoline pricing proportional to the level of consumption was analyzed as a proposed solution. The results showed that implementing the proposed scenario leads to a reduction in poverty (absolute and relative). This finding has a significant impact on the decision-making of policymakers in order to improve the level of welfare in the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study is an attempt to estimate the incidence, severity, depth, and determinants of poverty in Jhang district, Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, the data were collected from 1,000 households through a specifically designed questionnaire using multistages sampling technique in all four subdistricts of Jhang district. The study used both income-regression model and logistic regression to assess the impact of demographic and socioeconomic factors on poverty incidence. The results show that 54.3% of households are below the poverty line, including 16% extremely poor. Poverty measures including headcount index, severity, and depth of poverty are worse among the households headed by farmers, daily-wagers, and illiterates. Moreover, the results confirm that the household’s livestock population, landholding, ownership of agricultural land, total assets, and earners per household considerably reduced the poverty incidence in Jhang district. While household size, age of household head, economic dependency ratio, and total dependency ratio significantly increased the level of poverty. The study concludes that demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the households are of greater importance in alleviating poverty generally in Pakistan but particularly in rural areas. Hence, it is suggested that governments should increase public spending on socioeconomic programs and services with a particular focus on education, women’s empowerment, family planning, employment opportunity, pro-agriculture policies, and equitable distribution of land and wealth to alleviate poverty in rural areas of Pakistan. Further research can be conducted by selecting large sample size and analyzing the household characteristics at the disaggregated level incorporating time variations to develop a more impactful policy framework.

Purpose: The goal of this study is to determine how the Akhuwat Islamic Microfinance Mode (AIMM) affects several types of poverty in Pakistan, including absolute, moderate, and relative poverty. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this study, primary data from Akhuwat Microfinance borrowers were collected using the stratified sample technique. The population was divided into four groups: manufacturing concerns, trading concerns, services concerns, and non-trading concerns. Additionally, a two-stage structural modelling technique was used for further data analysis. The measurement model was used to assess the reliability and validity, while the structural model was used to gauge the link between the underlying variables. Findings: The study found positive and significant impact of Akhuwat Islamic Microfinance Mode (AIMM) on different dimensions of poverty, including absolute poverty, moderate poverty and relative poverty. Therefore, lending practices of Akhuwat enables the borrowers to reduce their absolute, moderate, and relative poverty. Implications/Originality/Value: The role Akhuwat's unique approach to address different poverty levels including absolute poverty, moderate poverty and relative poverty is hardly investigate in the context of Pakistan by applying the Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory.

Drawing on a qualitative approach, this paper examines wood fuel producers' insight on the environmental effects of their activities in the forest area of the Kintampo North Municipality. Tape-recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed thematically based on manual analysis. Results indicated that wood fuel producers have no option than to engage in the activities of charcoal production and fuelwood collection due to absolute poverty, unemployment, and the need for energy for cooking and heating. However, producers of wood fuel do not establish their plantations for wood fuel extraction; rather depend on the natural forest for their extraction. This resulted in environmental effects including deforestation, forest degradation, and loss of biodiversity. Since the current state of wood fuel extraction presents dire environmental consequences to the forest resources, we recommend Forestry Commission and the Municipal Assembly initiate tree planting exercises to make wood fuel a sustainable energy in Ghana. Poverty reduction programs such as Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) targeted at supporting inhabitants who want to engage in other forms of livelihood activities including shear butter processing to alleviate them from absolute poverty are strongly recommended. This will help reduce their over-dependence on the forest resources for survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of us are aware of the existence of poverty and its impact on a country, but we often overlook the fact that the best way to combat such a negative phenomenon is to identify and address the root causes that generate it or at least to improve them. The authors aim, through this work, to conceptualize the economic phenomenon of poverty and define it in the context of the current economy. Through an extensive literature review, this article seeks to define the types of poverty, particularly in rural areas, and identify their defining characteristics in the current economy. Rural areas undergo transformation over time due to economic, social, and environmental factors, which is why addressing poverty in rural settings should be integrated and coordinated to tackle these causes and create opportunities for sustainable development in these areas. This economic phenomenon has always been a complex and persistent issue that requires significant efforts to address and ensure equal opportunities for development and prosperity for rural residents. The conceptualization of this phenomenon cannot be reduced to a single cause; it is the result of a combination of interrelated factors. As a result of interpreting the specialized works, we will identify the various perspectives through which this economic phenomenon is defined and the indicators used to measure it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an attempt to estimate the incidence, severity, depth, and determinants of poverty in Jhang district, Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, the data were collected from 1,000 households through a specifically designed questionnaire using multistages sampling technique in all four subdistricts of Jhang district. The study used both income-regression model and logistic regression to assess the impact of demographic and socioeconomic factors on poverty incidence. The results show that 54.3% of households are below the poverty line, including 16% extremely poor. Poverty measures including headcount index, severity, and depth of poverty are worse among the households headed by farmers, daily-wagers, and illiterates. Moreover, the results confirm that the household's livestock population, landholding, ownership of agricultural land, total assets, and earners per household considerably reduced the poverty incidence in Jhang district. While household size, age of household head, economic dependency ratio, and total dependency ratio significantly increased the level of poverty. The study concludes that demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the households are of greater importance in alleviating poverty generally in Pakistan but particularly in rural areas. Hence, it is suggested that governments should increase public spending on socioeconomic programs and services with a particular focus on education, women's empowerment, family planning, employment opportunity, pro-agriculture policies, and equitable distribution of land and wealth to alleviate poverty in rural areas of Pakistan. Further research can be conducted by selecting large sample size and analyzing the household characteristics at the disaggregated level incorporating time variations to develop a more impactful policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many corporations are large, powerful, and wealthy. There are massive shortfalls of global justice, with hundreds of millions of people in the world living below the threshold of extreme poverty, and billions more living not far above that threshold. Where injustice and needs shortfalls must be remediated, we often look towards agents' capabilities to determine who ought to bear the costs of rectifying the situation. The combination of these three claims grounds what I call a 'linkage-based' account of why corporations have demanding positive duties to the global poor. In this paper, I put forward a distinctive linkage-based account of corporations' positive duties centred on the idea of dependence and the importance of meeting agents' core needs. In addition to outlining and defending this account, I will show that we can utilise its basic conceptual components to make headway on questions that have received insufficient attention in the business ethics literature; specifically, we can say something substantive about the weighting of needy agents' competing claims to assistance, and about the limits to the demands that can be lodged against corporations on the basis of others' unmet needs. Having integrated considerations of duties' grounding, their comparative weight, and the limits of their demandingness into a single account of corporate positive duty, I conclude by discussing a challenge to attributing to corporations duties owed to the worst-off amongst the global poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is a classic problem that is never solved except with comprehensive efforts by looking at the problem from various perspectives. This study aims to analyze from the perspective of low-income families the role of short-term vision and uncontrolled consumption as antecedents of absolute poverty. This study used a quantitative approach, using SEM-Amos version 23. The population in this study was all low-income families in South Sulawesi, especially in six districts, namely Makassar City, Jeneponto District, Selayar Islands District, Bone District, North Luwu District, and North Toraja District. The sampling technique was random through 201 heads of households who filled out the questionnaire and were declared complete from low-income families in the six districts. The results of data analysis show that compared to short-term vision, uncontrolled consumption is an antecedent that has a major influence on increasing absolute poverty. This study's results show a positive and significant contribution of short-term vision to uncontrolled consumption. Partially, uncontrolled consumption is also able to mediate the effect of short-term vision on absolute poverty. Family behavior can be an influential factor in increasing absolute poverty. The family's ability to overcome internal and external obstacles will reduce the possibility of the family being trapped in absolute poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the growing emphasis on sustainable development, financial poverty alleviation has become an increasingly important strategy. This study explores whether green finance, a new financial tool aimed at achieving sustainable development, can effectively reduce poverty. Using data from 25 provinces in China between 2004 and 2019, the study builds the China Green Financial Development Index, using the improved entropy power method, and uses a spatial econometric model to analyze the linear and non-linear impact of green finance on absolute and relatively poor poverty. The results demonstrate that green finance has a positive impact on poverty reduction, with a more significant impact on rural poverty reduction than urban poverty reduction. Interestingly, non-linear results reveal that the impact of green finance on rural poverty alleviation has gradually weakened, while the impact on urban poverty alleviation has gradually increased. Moreover, the introduction of technological progress as an intermediary variable has revealed an intermediary effect between green finance and poverty reduction. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of the link between green finance and poverty and suggests a new approach to poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economic Science / Jingji Kexue is the property of Economic Science Editorial Office 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.)

Background. In modern Russian society, the problem of poverty is relevant, which necessitates the study of the main factors affecting the level of population’s poverty. It is important to take into account the approaches used to measure the level of the poor society, what factors and causes influence the risk of falling into poverty, including in the context of regional characteristics. The purpose of the study is to analyze the main factors affecting the level of population’s poverty in modern Russian society. Materials and methods. Systematic and structural-functional approaches were used as methodological bases. Based on the results of the author’s research among the population of Arkhangelsk region in 2022, a sociological analysis of the standard of living of the population in the region was carried out, the main factors affecting the risk of falling into poverty, supplemented by official data from Rosstat on the standard of living in Arkhangelsk region and the poorest regions of Russia. Results. Based on the data of author’s research, the main factors affecting the level of poverty in Arkhangelsk region were analyzed. The main factors that have a significant impact on the risk of people falling into poverty include: economic (low wages, debt obligations); demographic (family composition, high degree of dependent burden); educational and qualification (availability of education and high qualifications); medical (health system availability and poor health). The use of official data of the Federal State Statistics Service made it possible to identify the level of poverty in society and certain regions of Russia, determine the nature of poverty in modern conditions, and establish the risks of entering the poor. Conclusions. The study showed that poverty in modern conditions in some cases is stagnant. The population of Arkhangelsk region has no difficulties in satisfying the primary needs, but the purchase of durable goods causes material difficulties in purchasing, which allows us to talk about the presence of a difficult financial situation in families. The impact of the economic factor on the level of poverty in the region is determined by the low level of wages, an increase in family spending and a high level of debt burden. The demographic factor of poverty has revealed an increased dependent burden in low-income families. The educational and qualification factor drew the attention of researchers to a large number of working poor in Arkhangelsk region. Poor availability of health services can also hinder overcoming low financial situation.

The article attempts to generalize some interpretations of the poverty phenomenon in Economics. We take into consideration the fact that the problem of poverty has not only economic but also political, social, legal, cultural and other dimensions. In modern science, there is a pluralism of approaches to the definition, classification and measurement of poverty, that depend on the country, time frame and the researcher’s own opinion. Many publications of Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Danish, Chilean and other researchers have been used in this article. We have tried to apply the results of their researches to Ukrainian reality. Modern authors consider many dimensions of poverty. It can be explained as the financial, socioeconomic, moral and psychological state of a person, family or the whole population of a country or a region. Poverty is also considered as the inability of a certain section of society to participate in fullfledged social and economic life. Economic, financial, material, social, psychological and other factors of poverty have been considered. Positive correlation between physical abilities and disabilities and poverty has been shown. Some features of the worldview and behavior of the poor are described. Active, passive and parasitic poverty have been distinguished. People who suffer from active poverty usually rely on their own resources. Due to social mobility, some of these people are sometimes able to raise themselves above the category of the poor. Passive poverty means the lack of resources due to the circumstances that are beyond people’s control. Parasitic poverty is tightly connected with the use of other people’s resources and is characterized by deviant behaviour, which is generally condemned by society and punished by the state. The main indicators of poverty are given. Absolute and relative poverty are considered. Relative poverty cannot be eliminated, since even in the richest countries there are people who cannot afford the benefits available to others. It has been shown that poverty is hereditary, and the children of poor parents are more likely to become poor in the future. Families with many children are often poor, so they cannot afford good education for their children. Therefore, young people without good education remain poor. It has been underlined that poverty is associated with social exclusion and deprivation. Poor citizens do not have the opportunity to organize themselves, as well as to maintain social ties and defend their interests. The interpretations of poverty given by Ukrainian scientists have been considered. In particular, the authors analyze poverty as a consequence of the de-industrialization in independent Ukraine. Special attention has been paid to the following trend: the smaller a town or a village, the higher the level of poverty

Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) is an approach to alleviate absolute poverty and has two perspectives: increasing the profit allocation to the poor and expanding the profit itself. This study focuses on the latter and investigates factors to increase people's intention to participate in PPT. However, the participating intention was interpreted based on donation intention to absolute poverty, a global prosocial behavior, because PPT has low social recognition. The structural equation modeling suggested that donation intention was affected by Empathic Concern (EC) and Social Norms (SN). However, the donation is an actual behavior, but PPT is a concept. Therefore, the study indicated embodying the concept as products to stimulate tourists' EC, such as optional tours which distribute preferential benefits to the poor. On the other hand, for social norms to function, the study also indicated that consensus needs to cultivate that PPT effectively alleviates absolute poverty, a global issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored income inequality in Thailand using the OECD's relative poverty indicator. Based on 2013 and 2017 data from Thailand and the OECD, we compared trends in poverty between countries. Then, by selecting the working-age population in Thailand, we examined several socioeconomic determinants of poverty. The results indicate that the relative poverty rate in Thailand was relatively high compared to the OECD countries and was considerably higher for children and older adults. Among the working-age population, unemployed individuals and informal-sector employees had a persistently higher risk of relative poverty. These results imply that income inequality in Thailand depends largely on the country's employment situation. People who are not employed or engaged in any economic activity have a high chance of being impoverished, which can increase income inequality. From another viewpoint, the situation could indicate that the current welfare and social protection systems for people not directly related to employment in Thailand are inadequate compared to the systems in OECD countries. Based on the results, we recommend that the government should strengthen current welfare policies for these people. The child allowance for low-income workers and the employment benefit for retirement or termination, which are limited to formal-sector employees and their families, should be extended to workers in the informal employment sector. For older adults, the Old-Age Allowance should raise the currently inadequate pension amount to a realistic level that reflects the cost of living. In the long term, these fragmented policies should be integrated into a national pension policy that considers the country's economic situation and social consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Menoufia Journal of Agricultural Economic & Social Science is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) 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.)

Three-quarters of the global migrant population have fled fragile contexts, with 64 percent hosted by similarly vulnerable countries. These contexts account for about 75 percent of those living in extreme poverty. Despite the scale of this phenomenon, the extent to which the self-selection of South–South migrants differs from those migrating to more developed countries remains poorly understood. In this paper, I investigate the self-selection of Venezuelan migrants during the 2015–2021 crisis, which led to greater migration to less developed countries such as Colombia and Peru, compared to more developed ones like the United States and Chile. Using individual-level data representative of the Venezuelan population and similar data on Venezuelan migrants in these key destination countries, the study finds that migrants are generally positively selected in terms of education compared to those who remain in Venezuela, with migrants to developed countries being positively sorted with respect to those to developing countries. However, comparing the cumulative distribution functions of pre-migration predicted earnings reveals that migrants to developing countries are negatively selected relative to stayers, while migrants to developed countries are positively selected. This highlights the significant role of unobserved abilities in shaping South–South migration patterns. Furthermore, a discrete choice model shows that women and college graduates face lower migration costs, independent of expected earnings at the destination. Factors such as the distance to the destination country and pre-crisis networks also play a crucial role in shaping migration decisions. • Venezuelan migrants (2015-2021) are generally more educated than those who stayed. • Women and graduates migrated more, regardless of expected earnings at destinations. • Distance and networks lead Venezuelans to prefer neighboring developing countries. • South–South migrants have lower pre-migration earnings compared to those who stayed. • Migrants to developed countries have higher pre-migration earnings than stayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El objetivo de este trabajo es unir la aportación de la filosofía escolástica con la técnica de la medición de la pobreza a fin de clarificar cuánto ingreso debe ser normativamente considerado para adquirir “lo necesario” para vivir. La escolástica ha diferenciado –desde Tomás de Aquino- los bienes necesarios, los socialmente necesarios y los superfluos. Sobre los dos primeros se reconocieron derechos de propiedad usufructuaria, pero no sobre los superfluos. Lo que el trabajo investiga es saber si la línea de pobreza absoluta, nacional o internacional (actualmente establecida en $1,90 diarios en PPP de 2011) da buena cuenta de la capacidad para adquirir “lo necesario”. Rechazada esta opción se propone un Índice de Acceso a lo Necesario y se analizan las consecuencias de políticas públicas que conlleva la ambigüedad de “lo necesario”. The goal of this work is to combine the contribution of scholastic philosophy with the technique of poverty measurement in order to clarify how much income should be normatively considered in order to acquire "what is necessary" to live. Scholasticism has differentiated - from Thomas Aquinas - the necessary, socially necessary and superfluous goods. On the first two rights of usufruct property were recognized, but not on the superfluous ones. What the research investigates is whether the absolute poverty line, national or international (currently set at $ 1.90 per day in PPP 2011) gives a good account of the capability to acquire "what is necessary". Once this option is rejected, an Index of Access to the Necessary is proposed and the consequences of public policies that entail the ambiguity of "what is necessary" are analyzed.

The 1980s saw a shift in the emphasis of discourse on poverty from production relations to consumption relations, with levels of consumption and purchasing power used to define poverty. Based on this concept, much of the research establishes absolute poverty lines or develops relative indicators to distinguish between “poor” and “non-poor.” This paper makes the case that such poverty measurement, while useful for assessing trends over the long term or taking into account relative dynamics, distorts our knowledge of poverty by hiding its root causes and results in overly optimistic interpretations. These discussions also decontextualize poverty from its political and economic context by uncritically accepting and promoting neoliberal regime. Moreover, the article questions the meaning of the “eradication of poverty” and suggests that the nominal rise in PPP income obscures historical capitalist accumulation processes (such as dispossession, proletarianization and depeasantization). As a result, the study suggests to recenter the analysis on the material causes of poverty, which are rooted in the functioning of the capitalist system, its antagonistic character, and the class-based contradictions of production itself.

This paper studies the effect of Mandarin proficiency on poverty reduction and its mechanism. The China General Social Survey (CGSS) is taken as the data source. From the perspective of social integration, the poverty reduction effect of Putonghua and its mechanism are empirically studied from the perspective of social interaction, social fairness, and social trust. The findings showed that improving the ability to listen and speak Mandarin positively affects social interaction, social trust, and social fairness. It showed that Putonghua proficiency positively correlates with the suppression of economic poverty. After the occurrence of poverty, whether a sample of absolute poverty or relative poverty, the ability to listen and speak in Mandarin has a specific inhibitory effect on social interaction, social trust, and social fairness. After the occurrence of poverty, the frequency of social interaction, social trust, and social public since have been reduced to a certain extent. Specifically, the ability to express Mandarin has shown remarkable results in improving social interaction, and the ability to listen among ordinary people has shown remarkable results in enhancing social fairness. The results of this paper provide empirical evidence of poverty alleviation in China via Improving Mandarin Proficiency. This research is also of great significance for optimizing poverty alleviation paths through language in the post-poverty alleviation era.

This study examines the cumulative effects of poverty on children's socio-emotional outcomes from ages 5 to 12, using U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data (N = 6941). Two definitions of poverty were used: absolute poverty as defined by the federal poverty threshold, and relative poverty defined as income less than 50 percent of median household income. (1) Does cumulative poverty, measured in absolute and relative terms, have any impact on children's socio-emotional outcomes? (2) Does this association increase/decrease as children become older? Relative poverty had a stronger adverse effect on children's social-emotional development than absolute poverty, and the adverse effect of relative poverty was bigger when children were older. Child and maternal characteristics affected children's socio-emotional development. The income threshold for absolute poverty is lower than that for relative poverty; using a relative poverty threshold might better identify individuals with limited resources that are at risk of having adverse socio-emotional outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the debate about the introduction of an official absolute poverty line is growing in the EU, at the moment Italy is the only EU country providing an official measure of absolute poverty. Absolute poverty is estimated in Italy with reference to household consumption using the Household Budget Survey (HBS), but it can be estimated also relying on incomes. Focusing on the Italian experience, this article contributes to the literature and to the national and European policy debate about poverty measurement in three ways. First, a detailed review of the methodology adopted in Italy to compute absolute poverty is presented. Second, the article investigates what changes when absolute poverty is assessed relying on income (using EU-SILC data) instead than on consumption (using HBS). Third, a comparison between income-based absolute poverty and the two main indicators of poverty and social exclusion used at the EU level—at risk of poverty rate, AROP, and severe material deprivation index, SMD—is shown. Main findings are: (1) the level and the characteristics of the poor change when absolute poverty is measured with reference to income rather than to consumption; (2) the incidence of income-based absolute poverty has risen more steeply than the incidence of the AROP since the upsurge of the economic crisis in 2008; (3) a very low correlation at the individual level between the income-based absolute poverty status and the SMD status emerges, thus strongly questioning the idea of using SMD as a proxy of absolute poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aimed to analyze the causality between corruption and poverty in Brazil and a group of seven other South American countries, from 2002 to 2018, using the methodology applied by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) for heterogeneous panels. The variables for corruption employed are the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and the Control of Corruption (CC) index and, as measures of poverty, the indexes proposed by Foster, Greer, and Thorbecke (1984), considering the poverty and extreme poverty lines. Results suggest one-directional CC causality for all measures of the poverty line, as well as for the P2 indicator of extreme poverty.

Illicit drug use and gambling are global problem, and multiple stakeholders are involved in it. This often leads to devastating physical, mental, and socioeconomic consequences for the family. In this case study, we describe our experience with an urban poor family from north India that was disintegrated by illicit drug and gambling use by one of its members. In this case, the family and school failed to recognize and act on the early warning signs of drug addiction and gambling. Health system failed to retain and follow him up. Law enforcement was also inadequate. It was a multisystem failure. For managing an illicit drug use case, we have also to address the cultural and social complexities that are part of the poverty subculture. Adequate involvement of multiple sectors and optimal follow-up can not only help the patient but also it prevents the collateral damage to a large extent in the affected families.

The goal of this work is to combine the contribution of scholastic philosophy with the technique of poverty measurement in order to clarify how much income should be normatively considered in order to acquire "what is necessary" to live. Scholasticism has differentiated - from Thomas Aquinas - the necessary, socially necessary and superfluous goods. On the first two rights of usufruct property were recognized, but not on the superfluous ones. What the research investigates is whether the absolute poverty line, national or international (currently set at $ 1.90 per day in PPP 2011) gives a good account of the capability to acquire "what is necessary". Once this option is rejected, an Index of Access to the Necessary is proposed and the consequences of public policies that entail the ambiguity of "what is necessary" are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the efficiency of the cash transfers on multidimensional extreme poverty in the states of Mexico for 2008-2018. We estimate econometric models with panel data with OLS and 2SLS and with cross-section data with GMM that shield against endogeneity of the determinants of poverty. We prove that there are perverse incentives that have caused that transfers perpetuate poverty in the less developed states. Homicides and informal employment have perpetuated it. Agricultural labor productivity, economic growth, productive export orientation, and a better Rule of Law reduce it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Párbeszéd: Szocialis Munka Folyoirat is the property of University of Debrecen 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.)

Abstract:: We use the Alkire–Foster poverty measure and decomposition method to study multidimensional poverty in the Qinling–Daba contiguous poor area of China's Henan Province. We examine absolute, relative, and multidimensional poverty focusing on heads of household and family characteristics as constituents of escaping each. We find that the multidimensional poverty index declines to a low level as values of k increase. Combining first-order random dominance with second-order stochastic dominance quickly determines rankings in the multidimensional poverty index. Increasing non-agricultural income emerges as the most important influence on escaping rural poverty, whereas households with elderly and children are at greatest risk for falling into poverty.

Socio-economic inequality has always accompanied the development of human society. However, the problem of inequality could intensify in certain periods. Given study aims to understand why do people who get income, salary or wage remain to be poor? Why does working poverty exist? How various extraordinal phenomenon like COVID-19 pandemic influence employed population and heir material situation. The article determines four groups of poverty reasons: Society level objective reasons, Society level subjective reasons, Individual-level subjective reasons, and Individual-level objective reasons. Discussing the issues of the reasons for working poverty, the paper mentions such as Changes in labor market policies, Long-term structural changes in the economy of developed countries; Strengthening the globalization process and structural changes in the national economies; Low wage of working people caused by personal specifics of an employed person like his/her human capital i.e. education or qualification, ability to appropriated use own skills and knowledge and manage own life; Unequal socioeconomic position of different demographic groups of population; Household characteristics. Out-of-the-ordinary phenomena such as COVID-19 further complicate the situation with the working poor. The labor market also has reacted to the changes caused by the spread of COVID-19 by adaption of specific programs aimed to keep employment unchangeable, by protection against unemployment, changes of work regimes, changes in labor legislation, etc. Increasing employment is a necessary but not sufficient condition for overcoming working poverty. Therefore, overcoming in-work poverty is necessary along with the increase of the number of jobs to improve the quality of these jobs. Good public policies can limit and truly reverse the rise in working poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the World Health Organization, Brazil ranks third in COVID-19 cases and second in deaths globally. The most severely impacted by this shock are the approximately 10 million Brazilians that live in extreme poverty. This vulnerability is evident in youth, financially, and in their well-being and mental health. Like other cash transfer programmes globally, the Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) is currently being adapted to support individuals and families during the pandemic. The current environment offers a unique opportunity for PBF to focus on young people and tackle poverty from a broader perspective. The PBF can expand its scope to address the longer-term mental health impacts of economic crises and poverty, besides addressing urgent food security and survival needs. This approach could enhance youth's future life chances and break the vicious cycle between mental illness and poverty that spirals many young people into socioeconomic and mental health disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After accomplishing the historical feat of eradicating absolute poverty, China will focus on the alleviation relative poverty in the new stage of common prosperity. The core connotation of relative poverty is the unequal distribution of income. Compared with absolute poverty, relative poverty is not only multidimensional and pluralistic, but also long-term, which is closely rented to the economic and social system and the stage of economic development, and its targeting and governance are more complex than absolute poverty. The practical experience of relative poverty in developed countries and some rapidly developing areas in China should be used for reference. Based on the income grouping data published by the National Bureau of Statistics, this paper calculates the relative poverty ratio in urban and rural areas in China and through prediction analysis, we found that when adopting the two relative poverty lines in urban and rural areas, the degree of relative poverty in China was generally stable but slightly increased in recent years. In the future, the relative poverty in rural areas may show a slow downward trend, while that in urban may increase slightly but basically remains stable. The governance of relative poverty during the 14th Five-Year Plan period should not only continue to consolidate the existing achievements in absolute poverty alleviation, but also ensure the orderly convergence of poverty alleviation policies and sustainable development. Moreover, it is necessary to determine appropriate relative poverty standards, to achieve the overall panning of relative poverty in urban and rural areas, and to establish a sustainable and normal mechanism for relative poverty reduction combined with rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is a very complicated phenomenon with many states finding difficulty to control the phenomenon alone, forget about its elimination. China is a major country and had high incidence of poverty, but now it has eliminated poverty ‘absolutely’. It implemented certain programs for the economic betterment of the people. In this perspective, China has taken the lead and declared elimination of ‘absolute’ poverty in 2020. The paper analyses the policies and programmes that has been adopted with a very technical stern method and political determination so as to achieve this objective. It discusses the corruption element in poverty elimination and the steps taken to curb it. The paper exemplifies some successes and concludes with the commitment of President Xi in furthering the economic growth of China, especially after the Covid pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is said to have reversed a decade of progress towards poverty alleviation. This opinion piece contends that this diagnosis is incomplete and possibly incorrect. It distracts us from understanding the ways in which the impacts of the pandemic are embedded in a longer trajectory of unjust economic development. Two problems are highlighted: a more reasonable international poverty line shows that extreme poverty is on the rise, and the alleged progress fails to account for relatively fast-rising food prices. COVID-19 is therefore not reversing any meaningful trend; it is merely aggravating the problem. Ignoring this critique, the inclusive growth and productive employment agendas persist in their aim to incorporate the poor in an economic system that – compelled by its own logic – (re)produces poverty, inequality and hunger and undermines welfare. Simply reinforcing these agendas in light of COVID-19 bypasses the question of the desirability and viability of the system in which the poor are supposed to be incorporated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critiques the poverty scorecard (PSC), a monetary-based tool for measuring poverty that has been adopted by community development programmes and participatory non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 66 countries including Pakistan. Drawing on 15 interviews and five focus group discussions conducted with the staff members and community members of Frontier Organization for Rural Development, a participatory NGO in Pakistan, I argue that it uses clouds intra-household power and resources distribution thereby furthering gender, class, and ethnic inequalities. Instead of solely relying on the PSC, the paper suggests supplementing it with participatory methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is among the first to calculate poverty among one of the world’s largest refugee populations, Afghans in Iran. More importantly, it is one of the first to use capability and monetary approaches to provide a comprehensive perspective on Afghan refugees’ poverty. We estimated poverty using data collected from a sample of 2,034 refugee households in 2011 in Iran. We utilized basic needs poverty lines and the World Bank’s absolute international poverty line for our monetary poverty analyses and the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for our capability analyses of poverty. Findings show that nearly half of the Afghan households were income-poor, approximately two percent of the households had less than USD 1.25 per person per day, and about 28% of the surveyed households were multidimensionally deprived. Results suggest that 60% of the income-poor households were not deprived from minimal education, health, and standards of living based on the MPI criteria, and about 32% of the multidimensionally deprived households were not income-poor. These findings call for more attention to poverty measurement methods, specifically for social workers and policy makers in the field, to gain a more realistic understanding about refugees’ wellbeing.

We propose a methodology for estimating the cost of the basic needs and applying it on the data for Lithuania in a decade after the EU accession (2006-2016). The basic food costs account for the minimal nutrition requirements, while the cost of other needs is estimated in relative terms, taking actual consumption patterns in the population into account. A reduction in the cost of the basic needs for additional members of the household is accounted for by a specially constructed consumption-based equivalence scale estimated on the HBS data. We show that the cost of the basic needs in Lithuania is close to the relative at-risk-of-poverty line (at 60% of the median equivalized disposable income) for a single adult but exceeds it for larger households. The share of people with income below the basic needs’ cost was above the relative at-risk-of-poverty levels in the EU-SILC data for all years, except of 2016. Albeit, the actual level might be lower due to the under-reporting of shadow income in the EU-SILC. Ability to meet basic needs and related absolute poverty indicators shows anti-cyclical dynamics in times of the economic growth and recession. Children are consistently the most deprived group of the Lithuanian population when it comes to meeting the basic needs. The official absolute poverty indicator used in Lithuania under-estimates the cost of the basic needs for households with more than one member.