Group items tagged

"Poor and rich countries alike must recognise that inequality goes beyond income, encompassing health, education and more"

"Contrary to conventional economic theories, the relationship between income growth and agricultural employment is extremely diverse, even among regions starting from similar levels of development, such as Asia and Africa. Due to its labor-intensive green revolution and strong farm-nonfarm linkages, Asia's development path is mostly characterized by fast growth with relatively slow agricultural exits. In contrast to Asia, urban biased policies, low rural population density, and high rates of population growth have led a number of African countries down a path of slow economic growth with surprisingly rapid agricultural exits. Despite this divergence both continents now face daunting employment problems. Asia appears to be increasingly vulnerable to rising inequality, slower job creation, and shrinking farm sizes, suggesting that Asian governments need to refocus on integrating smallholders and lagging regions into increasingly commercialized rural and urban economies. Africa, in contrast, has yet to achieve its own green revolution, which would still be a highly effective tool for job creation and poverty reduction. However, the diversity of its endowments and its tighter budget constraints mean that agricultural development strategies in Africa need to be highly context specific, financially sustainable, and more evidence- based"

"After the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, the recovery of fishing was limited while non-fishing sectors temporarily expanded. This paper shows that fishermen's ex-post labor supply responses continued to be constrained by the provision of low quality production assets. The average fishing productivity also declined for the negative selection in response to the aggregate shock. In a natural experiment set-up, it shows widening income inequality after the tsunami for income losses to the recipients of poor quality aid. It suggests the importance of quality monitoring and private market access to sustainably promote rural development after the tsunami."

"La conférence aura pour thème : "Tackling Inequalities in Development Policies"." 18/09 | 17h00 - A suivre en direct sur www.sciencespo.fr

Madagascar has been entirely unsuccessful in reducing the number of its people that are poor, or extremely so, in the ten years since 2001, when poverty was already at a very high level. This well-known conclusion draws on the analysis of three successive rounds of the national household expenditure surveys (enquete periodiques aupres des menages, EPM) conducted by the Madagascar National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) in 2001, 2005, and 2010. The objective of the analysis in this report is to document the levels and changes in poverty in Madagascar, and provide a detailed review of correlates of poverty and inequality in various dimensions, including gender, age, the structure of households, and place of residence. The report is an assessment of past poverty trends, and while policy implications are highlighted in many cases, the report is focused mainly on the descriptive, rather than prescriptive. It is found that the poverty headcount did not decrease between 2001 and 2005, rising instead from 71 to 75 percent of the population, rather than the 68 percent estimated official headcount for 2005. The methodology is described at length in the report and its annexes.