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Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are a central instrument in international development cooperation and of key importance in guiding donors' policies towards southern recipients. However, many aspects of the PRSP have been criticised by a variety of development stakeholders. A checklist of 85 questions has been developed to analyse the inclusion of aspects of sustainable development in PRSPs and to point to sustainability challenges and opportunities. It thus facilitates targeted advice and quality improvements. The checklist was applied to a selection of 12 PRSPs of developing countries. The results reveal an insufficient integration of the ecosystem services concept, of biodiversity and of climate issues. Property rights, gender issues, water and energy are as a rule well elaborated. PRSPs show significant variation in the integration of environmental sustainability issues. Sustainability assessments can contribute to significant improvements between first and second generation PRSPs provided the assessments are supported by a strong institutional framework and a dedicated political commitment towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial inclusion is a policy priority in both developed and developing countries. Yet almost one in four people remain financially excluded around the globe, with the vast majority living in the developing world. In this paper, we argue that financial resilience: an individual's ability to function effectively in adverse financial situations, can better help us assist people to cope with financial adversity, develop effective policy and, ultimately, improve economic development. This paper builds on an existing financial resilience measurement framework and adapts it to develop a measure appropriate to the context of developing countries. Indonesia, where one in three people are financially excluded, is used as a case country from which to draw conclusions. We use the Indonesia Family Life Survey and put forward the country's first snapshot of financial resilience. Implications for research and policy are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The word poverty had been and is still one of the most familiar and serious problems facing different economies of the world. While the developed countries try to minimize this menace to some extent, other underdeveloped countries wallow in its dominance with impunity. Poverty has been identified to be more associated with rural country side, and linked with some known barriers for its reduction such as government failures, deprivation, inflation and diseases. In Nigeria, although several poverty alleviation policies and programmes have been implemented the problem still persists, it is against this background that this paper examines whether poverty alleviation policies could be a catalyst to the development of the economies of the south-Saharan region that is mostly affected. This paper finds out whether it is lack of democratization, inability to tap the abundance of human and natural resources in Nigeria that could be the bane for the persistent increases in the poverty status of the populace. The paper also suggests positive and attitudinal changes that could properly implement the numerous policies and programmes, to reduce poverty to the bearrest minimum, towards the development of the Nigerian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new quality of growth index for developing countries. The index encompasses both the intrinsic nature and social dimensions of growth, and is computed for over 90 countries for the period 1990-2011. The approach is premised on the fact that not all growth is created equal in terms of social outcomes, and that it does matter how one reaches from one level of income to another for various theoretical and empirical reasons. The paper finds that the quality of growth has been improving in the vast majority of developing countries over the past two decades, although the rate of convergence is relatively slow. At the same time, there are considerable cross-country variations across income levels and regions. Finally, empirical investigations point to the fact that main factors of the quality of growth are political stability, public pro-poor spending, macroeconomic stability, financial development, institutional quality and external factors such as FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper examines the implications of productivity improvements in agriculture, industry, and services for global poverty. We find that, in poor countries, increases in agricultural productivity generally have a larger poverty-reduction effect than increases in industry or services. This differential declines as average incomes rise, partly because agriculture becomes smaller as a share of the economy, and partly because agricultural productivity growth becomes less effective in reducing poverty. The source of the poverty-reduction benefits from agricultural productivity growth changes as innovations are more widely adopted—moving from increases in producer returns to reductions in consumer prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries continue to experience stunted economic growth, partly traceable to the amount of money expended to subsidize energy consumption. Recently, there is a deepening discourse on the need for a policy shift towards the removal of oil subsidies in developing countries, particularly in Nigeria. This would ensure fiscal discipline and enable funds allocation to other cogent economic sectors. However, there is compelling evidence showing that subsidy removal engenders socio-political and economic contradictions in developing countries. Drawing lessons from other countries, the paper critically assesses fuel subsidy reform in Nigeria, examines its impact and evaluates the mechanisms employed to alleviate its negative effect on the poor. Although, there is a global trend towards oil subsidy removal, attempt at deregulation of the downstream oil sector has negatively impacted on the political economy of Nigeria. Instead of driving the developmental agenda of the state, the subsidy reform has deepened massive impoverishment, created socio-economic instability and political dissent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds a critical geography of poverty finance with recourse to a relational comparison of the microfinance and subprime mortgage markets. It probes paradoxical claims about the nature of poverty, the poor, states and markets that have surfaced in the aftermath of the financial crisis. In doing so it aims to generate new understandings of neoliberal global finance with specific emphasis on 1) the social constitution of risk through racialised and gendered forms of difference; 2) the exercise of dispossession and imperialism by financial means; and 3) articulations of poverty finance with the social relations of debt in specific conjunctures. Each of these terrains of inquiry forms a subsection of the paper, following a preliminary section that poses the animating paradox in more detail. The paper concludes with some reflections on the conditions of possibility for democratising finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper generates insights about the negative consequences of the brain drain for those left behind, the rationale behind brain drain migration, the consequences of brain drain, and the channels through which brain drain migration affects the economic performance and growth prospects of sending countries. This paper aims to analyze and discuss the effect of the brain drain on poverty, the potential harmful effects of the brain drain, the effects of the brain drain on source countries, and the development impact of high-skilled migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of studies have attempted to discern the causes of low productivity and slow growth in developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The effects of global economic integration, corruption, geography, financial aid and human capital indicators such as education have been widely explored. Despite the significant contribution of common mental disorders (CMDs) to poverty and to the burden of disease, mainstream growth analyses have not yet integrated the body of scholarship that identifies the linkages between CMDs and growth. There are potential benefits of prioritising CMDs in development strategies but there are several challenges. Among the greatest challenges is patchy mental health record. Poor data hinders the conceptualisation and the analyses of the effect of common mental disorders on economic growth and development. This paper explores the theoretical and empirical macro-growth effects of CMDs in sub-Saharan Africa. Preliminary theorizing and evidence suggest that improvement in CMDs is likely to be a stimulus to growth in SSA. We explore further the performance of a non-psychometric instrument known as the K-6 as a cost-effective instrument with which to measure community mental health in household surveys across populations that have various levels of infrastructure and literacy. The K-6 instrument which is a semi-structured questionnaire includes six non-specific psychometric items measuring negative affective states or psychological distress. We also collect socioeconomic data during the survey which enabled us to study the determinants of common mental health conditions among urban and rural households in Ghana. Urban and rural communities were analysed separately because they may demonstrate different determinants of CMDs. We report the outcome of the simple non-psychometric survey as well as the results from logistic regressions showing the factors that affect common mental disorders among the survey respondents. The results show that both urban and rural groups experienced diminished mental health during the food and fuel price hikes of 2008 and 2009, and from the global financial crises over the same period, compared with those who reported no mental distress. The coefficients from the logistic regression estimated by the maximum likelihood show spatial variations in mental health indicators by age, education, and per capita income. For this study, gender did not appear to be a good predictor of any of the specific psychological distress measures assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The paper examines the extent to which emerging social transfer programs in developing countries can improve the productive capacity of households in poverty and contribute to micro-level growth. It introduces a basic framework linking transfers to growth mediating processes and productive capacity outcomes. This is then used to organize and assess relevant findings from program evaluation studies. The paper concludes that social transfer programs can have positive effects on the productive capacity of poor and poorest groups; but further research is needed to identify and measure the size and significance of these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Africa's least developed countries (LDCs), escape from poverty and convergence to living standards of more advanced economies depends critically on structural transformation and the emergence of productive entrepreneurship that would accelerate growth and job creation. So far, however, subsistence agriculture has been the main source of employment in these countries, while a dynamic private sector in industry or high value-added services has remained elusive. Utilizing the flow approach to labor markets, this paper complements the empirical literature and numerous surveys on small and medium enterprise (SME) constraints and develops a theoretical framework that examines the main obstacles to entrepreneurship in Africa's LDCs. The paper posits that given the persistent frictions in product and labor markets as well as skill shortages that characterize these economies, development of productive entrepreneurship cannot be left to markets alone. The policy analysis suggests that the state has an important role to play. Well-targeted government interventions including training of potential entrepreneurs and workers can help to establish more modern and highly productive SME clusters that Africa's LDCs need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we attempt to distinguish the direct effect of financial development on poverty reduction from its indirect effect through economic growth. Using an efficient estimator called fixed effect vector decomposition (FEVD) we employ a set of panel data from 54 developing countries for the period 1993–2004. Our results indicate that on average financial development is conducive for poverty reduction but the instability accompanying financial development is detrimental to the poor. The major policy recommendations suggested by the paper indicate that financial sector reforms should be directed at easing credit restrictions while taking into consideration the effects of financial instability on the poor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper assesses the effect of the steadily growing remittance flows to sub-Saharan Africa. Though the region receives only a small portion of the total recorded remittances to developing countries, and the volume of aid flows to sub-Saharan Africa swamps remittances, this paper finds that remittances, which are a stable, private transfer, have a direct poverty-mitigating effect, and promote financial development. These findings hold even after factoring in the reverse causality between remittances, poverty, and financial development. The paper posits that formalizing such flows can serve as an effective access point for “unbanked” individuals, and households. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose — This paper aims to examine the impact of the components of human capital on the extent of poverty and income distribution in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach — Data for all variables are from the World Development Report, 2006 and 2007. The least-squares estimation technique in a multivariate linear regression is applied. It is noted that the introduction of interaction terms between income and the components of human capital yields better statistical results, as pointed out in the economic development literature. Findings — Based on data from the World Bank and using a sample of 40 developing economies, it is found that the fraction of the population below the poverty line is linearly dependent upon gender parity ratio in primary and secondary schools, the prevalence of child malnutrition, per capita purchasing power parity gross national income, the maternal mortality rate, and the percentage of births attended by skilled health staff. Using another sample of 35 developing countries, it is found that income inequality linearly depends on the same explanatory variables plus the infant mortality rate and the primary school completion rate. Practical implications — Statistical results of such empirical examination will assist governments in those countries identify areas that need to be improved upon in order to alleviate poverty and improve the distribution of income. Originality/value — This paper provides useful information on the impact of the components of human capital on the extent of poverty and income distribution in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the popularity of the concept of sustainable development, there is growing evidence that, globally, human enterprise is becoming less sustainable rather than more. This paper examines this concept and the difficulty of linking it with environmental concerns. Developing countries emphasise economic growth and the eradication of poverty as prerequisites for sustainable development, but despite national strategies and programmes, implementation, especially in Africa, remains weak and fraught with problems. Focusing on national strategies for sustainable development in Zimbabwe, this paper highlights the fragmented and sectoral approach that results in low impact. Agenda 21 as a blueprint for sustainable development underestimates the complexities of diverse situations on the ground and the political and socio-economic realities of development that are in constant flux. Sustainable development initiatives fail to successfully integrate development with environmental concerns, poverty is not adequately addressed, and conservation is regarded as merely an income-generating luxury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the first ever estimate of the number of children living poverty in developing countries was undertaken. The incidence of child poverty was estimated by establishing how many children suffer severe deprivation in at least one out of seven indicators which are internationally recognized as their rights as well as constitutive of poverty. This is a major step forward in the analysis of poverty. In this paper, we generalize these findings on the incidence of children living in poverty by exploring how to estimate the depth and severity of child poverty. Two countries can have the same proportion of children living in poverty, however, the actual plight of children could be very different depending on how many deprivations, on average, children suffer. In addition, even if they suffer from the same average number of deprivations, these deprivation could be the same for all children or be very unevenly distributed. We show how these considerations can be used to estimate the depth and severity of poverty. We use regional data to provide applied examples of this methodology. The method proposed in this paper is similar to the one used to estimate the incidence, depth and severity of income poverty. The paper also offers some possible generalizations and ways forward for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There are three main arguments why developed countries should consider managing without growth: 1) continued economic growth worldwide is not an option owing to environmental and resource constraints, and so developed countries should leave room for growth in developing countries where the benefits of growth are evident; 2) in developed countries growth has become uneconomic in the sense that it detracts more from well-being than it adds; and 3) economic growth in developed countries is neither necessary nor sufficient for meeting specific policy objectives such as full employment, no poverty and protection of the environment. This paper explores various growth scenarios for Canada over the medium range to 2020 using LOWGROW, a dynamic simulation model. After describing LOWGROW, a scenario is presented that shows conditions under which the rate of unemployment in Canada could be reduced to historically low levels, poverty eliminated and greenhouse gas emissions reduced to comply with Canada''s commitment under the Kyoto Protocol, without relying on economic growth. This is not to say that zero growth should itself become a policy objective. Rather that the dependence on and defence of economic growth should not be an obstacle to fulfilling more specific welfare enhancing objectives of full employment, eliminating poverty, and protecting the environment. The paper concludes with some policy implications for managing without growth followed by an annex which provides a technical description of LOWGROW. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper is an introduction to eight papers included in this special issue on the impact of globalization on the world’s poor, arising out of the first conceptual and methodological workshop for the UNU-WIDER project in Helsinki, October 2004. The authors of the papers in this issue focus on the different channels and transmission mechanisms through which the process of globalization affects different aspects and dimensions of poverty in the developing world. These numerous channels interact and the net effects on poverty depend on the relative strength of the positive and negative forces of globalization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many studies claim that mineral resources impact negatively on economic growth particularly in developing countries. This paper briefly reviews this argument (the natural resources curse hypothesis) and subjects it to examination. The paper argues that poor performance is not an inherent characteristic of minerals‐driven economies. It considers mineral endowments a capital that can spur growth and reduce poverty in developing countries if deployed under appropriate conditions. The paper identifies the benefit streams of mining and the challenges for their equitable creation, investment, distribution and management. It articulates the conditions, success factors and strategies to maximizing the contribution of the minerals sector to growth and development in Africa. The entry points include creating a conducive and competitive policy, legal and regulatory environment and frameworks for business development; improving governance and management systems anchored on strong and capable institutions; opening up opportunities including capitalizing on the low entry barriers offered by artisanal and small‐scale mining; sharpening investment decisions; including the minerals sector in poverty reduction strategies and other national development plans; promoting linkages between the minerals sector and other sectors of the economy; empowering communities; establishing coalitions of change; and facilitating knowledge and competencies creation for more local processing and value addition. [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]

Summary This paper explains the processes behind the framing of drip irrigation as a promising technology to address current poverty and environmental challenges in the developing world. I draw from critical development and science and technology studies and highlight that this imagery has been actively performed. Insiders elaborated a compelling narrative calling upon a will to improve through technology and the moral legitimacy of social entrepreneurship in development; they worked hard to establish a supportive coalition in an ever wider network. This story hinges on several assumptions, which upon closer scrutiny appear to be problematic: the unicity of smallholder farming, the attribution of inherent technical characteristics to a specific object—the “drip kit”—regardless of the context in which it is used, and the framing of social entrepreneurship and market-based approaches as alternative models even though these rather constitute a re-working of existing arrangements within the international development community. Nonetheless, the pro-poor and environmentally friendly smallholder drip irrigation narrative still continues to be successful in harnessing the support of the international development community, despite the little capacity drip irrigation has had to transform smallholder farming, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Unpacking the origins, actors, and building blocks of the discursive success of smallholder drip irrigation provides fresh perspectives on the practices of development in the sector and is the first step toward more meaningful engagement with smallholder farmers in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigate the link from poverty to growth using data from 129 developing countries, including 44 in Sub Saharan Africa, during 1981–2018. • Faster poverty reduction leads to faster growth in the developing world as a whole (LDCs); but especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). • Initial poverty has no direct impact on growth in both regions. But it weakens the effectiveness of growth in reducing poverty; more in LDCs than in SSA. • Faster growth brings about faster poverty reduction in the developing world as a whole; but not so much within SSA. • For faster poverty reduction, LDCs especially SSA need pro-growth reduction strategies besides the conventional pro-poor growth strategies. The positive impact of growth on poverty reduction has been well documented and confirmed. In contrast, the impact of poverty reduction on subsequent growth has not been systematically investigated. The main objective of this paper is to explore empirically the reverse causality between poverty and growth. Using data from 129 developing countries (44 in SSA) during 1981–2018, this study finds that faster poverty reduction is linked to faster growth in the developing world and especially the SSA region; while faster growth contributes to faster poverty reduction more in the developing world outside of SSA than within SSA. These findings suggest that for faster poverty reduction in the entire developing world but especially in SSA, we need a pro-growth poverty reduction strategy, where interventions directly target poverty reduction, and through that also contribute to faster growth; as a complement to the more conventional pro-poor growth strategy, where interventions directly target growth and only reduce poverty through growth. The main conclusion is that the combined effects of growth on poverty and of the latter on subsequent growth can lead to a virtuous spiral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is focused on food problem in the least developed countries, on the chosen areas where the overall situation is the most problematic. It deals with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, belonging to the low income food deficit countries with one of the world's lowest rates of the gross domestic product per capita. The paper defines the food security situation in a global connection, representing a wide complex of economic, social, demographic, technologic and political aspects of production, distribution, shift and consumption of foodstuffs. Despite some progresses in the political situation, the effects of the economic crisis and the widespread food insecurity are expected to persist. Te humanitarian assistance is now needed to support the needs of the most vulnerable. In the longer term, the countries have the significant goal of consolidating peace and security and strengthening the overall governance, while at the same time reconstructing and rehabilitating their economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has scrutinized the nexus among poverty, economic growth, employment and dependency ratio in developing countries. The primary intension behind this study is to find out the association between variables such as poverty, economic growth, agricultural and industrial employment and dependency ratio due to the gap in the existing literature. This study fully relies on cross country data and involves forty one countries which have been selected from Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. For this study, OLS method, correlation and econometric tools have been employed. Two models employed in the analysis are goodness of fit because both p-value and F-statistics in the models are less than 5%. The results bring to light the fact that age dependency ratio has had a tremendous impact on poverty and poverty has had a relatively very high impact on the age dependency ratio. Even though Industrial employment has a negative association with poverty incidence, it does not have a significant impact on poverty. The finding that economic growth, poverty and industrial employment significantly affect the age dependency ratio in model two is practicable and consistent with economic theories. Thus stable economic growth with an increase in labour productivity and labour intensive technology is an active remedy for solving this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A substantial portion of the world’s population does not have ready access to safe water. Moreover, obtaining water may involve great expense of time and energy for those who have no water sources in or near home. From an historical perspective, with the invention of piped water, fetching water has only recently become largely irrelevant in many locales. In addition, in most instances, wells and clean surface water were so close by that fetching was not considered a problem. However, population growth, weather fluctuations and social upheavals have made the daily chore of carrying water highly problematic and a public health problem of great magnitude for many, especially women, in the poor regions and classes of the world. In this paper, we consider gender differences in water carrying and summarize data about water access and carrying from 44 countries that participated in the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) program. Women and children are the most common water carriers, and they spend considerable time (many trips take more than an hour) supplying water to their households. Time is but one measure of the cost of fetching water; caloric expenditures, particularly during droughts, and other measures that affect health and quality of life must be considered. The full costs of fetching water must be considered when measuring progress toward two Millennium Development Goals – increasing access to safe drinking water and seeking an end to poverty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reviewing a recent annual cycle of public fundraising and advocacy messages of international development NGOs (INGOs), this paper examines how gendered representations are used to portray specific notions of global poverty, development, gendered identities, the majority world and its relation to the developed world. The gendering of global poverty and development is realised though many contradictory discursive strategies, including feminisation which, inter alia, naturalises the majority world, distinctive characterisations of people and issues, and binary oppositions of women from the developed and majority worlds. Through both her instrumental and symbolic value, the 'Third World woman' serves INGOs by simultaneously projecting 'universal' values of motherhood and womanhood and special values of 'Third World difference'. These representations have significance across Northern audiences' understandings of gender and global inequalities and INGOs' objectives of poverty alleviation, women's empowerment and rights-based development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other international and national development targets in developing countries hinges on capacities of individuals, organisations and societies to transform in order to reach their development objectives. Without supportive strategies, policies, laws and procedures, well-functioning organisations, and educated and skilled people, developing countries lack the foundation needed to plan, implement and review their national and local development strategies. Capacity development helps to strengthen and sustain this foundation. This paper defines capacity development; outlines its objectives, fundamental principles and the key areas of capacity deficits; and proposes and discusses a basic framework for developing countries to adopt for investing in the development of national capacity. The implementation framework proposed is developed based on a critical assessment and analysis of capacity development and its results in developing countries drawing from the author's experience in implementing capacity development projects. The findings indicate that investing in capacity development must now become a critical aspect of development policy in developing countries. In fact, national capacity development strategies are emerging in several countries to underpin development plans and poverty-reduction strategies. In pursuing capacity development, developing countries must also ensure that such initiatives are comprehensively designed to be simultaneously related to change and transformation at the individual, institutional and societal levels. Investing in capacity development means not only to train individuals, but also to help developing countries to build up self-sufficient institutions and an environment where individuals can serve the needs of their countries. Moreover, such initiatives are likely to be more successfully implemented if done through semi-autonomous entities and taking into consideration that the type of knowledge required to develop capacity in developing countries is locally determined and not easily transferable from developed countries. Donor agencies must accept this reality and tailor their capacity development assistance accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few ideas and activities have received as hyperbolic praise as that presented by Hernando de Soto on informality. Nobel laureates in economics, presidents of various countries, important magazines, and multilateral organizations have endorsed this author's impulse towards the official registration of the property or the poor, particularly, their homes, as the key to launching a worldwide economic revolution from below. In this paper we present the institutional backing of those ideas, the analytic substance behind the main arguments involved, the descriptive accuracy of the institutions operating in the Third World, and the results of their application. In this way, we evaluate the relationship between the spread and power of an idea and its formal content, and its effectiveness in changing the world of the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article commences with a historical perspective on state and economy in order to arrive at a characterisation of the nature of a constitutional state, in terms of the differently-natured legal spheres within a differentiated society. The focus then shifts to developing countries, the problem of poverty and the relevance of various theories of development. A literature review reveals as alternative theories for economic growth the linear-stages-growth model, the neo-Marxist (or dependency) growth model, the orthodox growth model and the structural growth theory. The single main objective of all these models is the quickest eradication of poverty, but these theories differ with regard to the most suitable ways in which to eradicate poverty on a sustained basis in the shortest possible time. Literature on development strategies currently favours either the orthodox model or the structural model, as the other two models have been discredited owing to recent experiences in economic growth and development. This challenge of poverty eradication has been described as one of melting the "Golden curtain" which separates wealthy countries in the northern hemisphere from the poor countries in the southern hemisphere. Although different models aiming at economic growth and economic development were used by different countries and in different regions, African countries have shown little progress in the eradication of poverty. Factors other than the application of particular development strategies therefore played a role and contributed, depending on the circumstances, either to a faster or to a slower eradication of poverty in different regions and countries. These discrepancies that occurred over a period of 30 years (1970 to 2000) between certain parts of the world recording remarkable progress in their efforts to combat poverty on the one hand, compared to increases in poverty in other parts of the world on the other, require an assessment which takes into account a more encompassing perspective. On the basis of these considerations the question is then raised in this paper as to whether or not the "just state" can play a significant role in developing countries, inter alia, in the light of existing theories of development. The intimate coherence between a system of free enterprise, the free market and the juridical guarantees of a just state underpins key elements in the formulation of the conclusion of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the case of Zimbabwe since independence to examine the extent to which the redistribution of land and water in developing countries results in economic growth and a reduction in poverty. In order to maximize water's contribution to poverty reduction and economic growth it is necessary to (1) distinguish between communal and commercial farmers; (2) ensure that institutions are in place to support the new communal farmers and enable them to make decisions about how best to use their new wealth; and (3) design irrigation systems with low operational costs and easy maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geographical allocation of Spanish aid has been little studied, despite its unusual concentration on middle-income countries. This paper develops a theoretical model in which aid allocation depends on a combination of recipient needs, donor interests and performance criteria, and estimates it econometrically for Spain. The results show that the allocation of Spanish aid has been influenced both by Spain's own foreign policy interests and by recipient needs for poverty reduction and development (although not by the quality of recipient governance or recipient absorptive capacity). Former Spanish colonies received a disproportionate share of Spain's aid (as is true mutatis mutandis for other European countries), but aid is allocated among them with greater regard to recipient need than is Spain's aid to other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing attention is now being paid to poverty dynamics in developing countries. This work links the extent to which households smooth consumption or smooth assets given income shocks, the empirical evidence on the churning of households in and out of poverty, and the possibility that temporary shocks can have permanent consequences. Using longitudinal data from rural Zimbabwe, this paper extends the discussion of these issues by disaggregating the impact of shocks by levels of asset holdings, by disaggregating the impact of shocks on individual level welfare and by assessing the extent to which such shocks have permanent consequences. By doing so, it assesses the validity of distinguishing between asset and consumption smoothing and provides insights into whether poverty dynamics assessed at the household level provide an adequate picture of dynamics at the individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In deciding who is housed and who is homeless in developing countries, planners often display muddled thinking, rejecting accommodation which is considered acceptable by its residents. While industrialised nations regard inadequate housing as almost synonymous with homelessness, this congruence may be unhelpful in developing countries in which a large proportion of households live in housing which could be defined as inadequate. From the results of a broad-based research project on homelessness in nine developing countries, this paper attempts to trace the boundaries between inadequate housing and homelessness. It argues that while some informal settlements may provide such poor accommodation that their denizens should be regarded as homeless, others clearly do not. The margins are found to be fuzzy and to vary from country to country. The most important criterion for differentiating between those who are merely inadequately housed and homeless people appears to be whether or not the place allows its occupants to be on an improving trajectory. To reflect the lack of a clear margin and the ability of some street-homeless people to improve in situ, the conceptualisation developed by UN-Habitat based on industrialised countries is modified to more nearly represent reality in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Few studies have examined the impact of international migration and remittances on poverty in the developing world. This paper fills this lacuna by constructing and analyzing a new data set on international migration, remittances, inequality, and poverty from 71 developing countries. The results show that both international migration and remittances significantly reduce the level, depth, and severity of poverty in the developing world. After instrumenting for the possible endogeneity of international migration, and controlling for various factors, results suggest that, on average, a 10% increase in the share of international migrants in a country’s population will lead to a 2.1% decline in the share of people living on less than $1.00 per person per day. After instrumenting for the possible endogeneity of international remittances, a similar 10% increase in per capita official international remittances will lead to a 3.5% decline in the share of people living in poverty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper uses a new data set of 126 intervals from 60 developing countries to analyze the growth elasticity of poverty, that is, how much does poverty decline in percentage terms with a given percentage rise in economic growth. The data set is both broader in coverage and more selective in terms of quality controls than those used in the past. The study finds that while economic growth does reduce poverty in developing countries, the rate of poverty reduction depends very much on how economic growth is defined. Controlling for changes in income inequality, when economic growth is measured by changes in survey mean income (consumption), the growth elasticity of poverty (excluding Eastern Europe and Central Asia) is −2.79; that is, a 10% increase in the survey mean will reduce poverty ($1.00/person/day) by 27.9%. But, when growth is measured by changes in GDP per capita, the growth elasticity of poverty is a statistically insignificant −2.27, which is lower than has previously been estimated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the First World countries, the industrial evolution of the developing countries is observed with concern. The are considered a strong competence in the international marked and the are held responsible for the decreasing life standard in the United States and in Europe. This is the reason to consider restrictions of the commercial relations which could limit also the Third World productivity. Paul Krugman, a professor of economics at Stanford University en Palo Alto, California, is convinced that this fear doesn't have any real base. He argues, supported by a sequence of models, which present the economic relations between the First and the Third World, that the developing countries really don't influence on the life standard or the developed countries. It shouldn't be necessary to impose import retrictions which only would hinder the economic growth of the Third World nations, and therefore the hope for a decent life standard of millions of human beings who live today in conditions of absolute poverty. Agreeing completely with the author's goals, I present here a critical discussion of the respective paper. My critics are mainly directed to the model's structure. I believe that one can use more realistic structures without modifying Krugman's final final conclusions. Some suggestions are made in this sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the March 2005 issue of the journal Engineering Sustainability. The journal has a worldwide circulation of about 1000 among both communities. There is one briefing in this issue, by Petter Matthews, Director of Engineers Against Poverty. This deals with multi-sector partnerships for poverty reduction. Matthews advocates that leaving the poor behind is no longer an option due to the interconnectedness of the world. One of the papers deals with the wider impacts of public transport on the lives of the urban poor in developing countries. In applying the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to the research data, transport is considered as an asset within the Sustainable Livelihoods framework.