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Selected Works

2009

Poverty

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Public Lecture: Labour Markets And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields Dec 2009

A Public Lecture: Labour Markets And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] I want to put forward three propositions to you based on decades of work in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. First, economic development can be (but need not be) a win-win-win situation - for businesses, for individuals and groups of individuals, and for governments and non- governmental organisations (NGOs). Second, the labour market can (but need not) serve as an effective mechanism for contributing to economic growth and for transmitting the gains from economic growth. And third, in both of these areas, whether a country experiences the more favorable set of outcomes or the less favorable ones reflects a) …

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Household Income Dynamics: A Four Country Story, Gary S. Fields, Paul L. Cichello, Samuel Freije, Marta Menéndez, David Newhouse Nov 2009

Household Income Dynamics: A Four Country Story, Gary S. Fields, Paul L. Cichello, Samuel Freije, Marta Menéndez, David Newhouse

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] In this paper, we analyse the dynamics of household per capita incomes using longitudinal data from Indonesia, South Africa, Spain and Venezuela. We find that in all four countries reported initial income and job changes of the head are consistently the most important variables in accounting for income changes, overall and for initially poor households. We also find that changes in income are more important than changes in household size and that changes in labour earnings are more important than changes in other sources of household income.

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Family Sources Of Educational Gender Inequality In Rural China: A Critical Assessment, Emily C. Hannum, Peggy A. Kong, Yuping Zhang Nov 2009

Family Sources Of Educational Gender Inequality In Rural China: A Critical Assessment, Emily C. Hannum, Peggy A. Kong, Yuping Zhang

Emily C. Hannum

In this paper, we investigate the gender gap in education in rural northwest China. We first discuss parental perceptions of abilities and appropriate roles for girls and boys; parental concerns about old-age support; and parental perceptions of different labor market outcomes for girls' and boys' education. We then investigate gender disparities in investments in children, children's performance at school, and children's subsequent attainment. We analyze a survey of nine to twelve year-old children and their families conducted in rural Gansu Province in the year 2000, along with follow-up information about subsequent educational attainment collected seven years later. We complement our …

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The Microeconomics Of Changing Income Distribution In Malaysia, Gary S. Fields, Sergei Soares Nov 2009

The Microeconomics Of Changing Income Distribution In Malaysia, Gary S. Fields, Sergei Soares

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This study uses data from Malaysia's Household Income and Expenditure Surveys to quantify the importance of different factors in accounting for the changes in Malaysia's income distribution between 1984 and 1989 ("Period 1") and between 1989 and 1997 ("Period 2"). These particular years were chosen, because 1997 is the most recent available survey, 1984 is the earliest survey comparable to 1997, and 1989 is important for three reasons: 1. Income inequality fell until 1989 and rose thereafter. 2. Economic growth was slow in 1984-89 and fast in 1989-97. and 3. 1989 is the closest year to the beginning of …

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Earnings And Employment Dynamics For Africans In Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Panel Study Of Kwazulu-Natal, Paul L. Cichello, Gary S. Fields, Murray Leibbrandt Nov 2009

Earnings And Employment Dynamics For Africans In Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Panel Study Of Kwazulu-Natal, Paul L. Cichello, Gary S. Fields, Murray Leibbrandt

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The labour market is central in determining individual and household well-being in South Africa. Therefore, an understanding of earnings and employment dynamics is a key policy issue. However, the absence of panel data has constrained empirical work addressing these issues. This paper makes use of a regional panel data set for KwaZulu-Natal to begin the study of earnings and employment dynamics. The authors find that, on average, working-aged Africans in KwaZulu-Natal experienced large gains in earnings during the period 1993–8. These gains were progressive in nature, with the highest quintile of 1993 earners and those originally employed in the …

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Earning Their Way Out Of Poverty (Outline And Sample Chapter), Gary Fields Nov 2009

Earning Their Way Out Of Poverty (Outline And Sample Chapter), Gary Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] According to the latest figures, today an estimated 3.1 billion people still live in absolute poverty, essentially all of them in the low- and middle-income countries of Asia, Latin America, and Africa and none of them in what are traditionally called the “developed economies” of North America (excluding Mexico), Western Europe, and selected parts of Asia and Oceania. This book is about how the poor live and work and what actions the world community could take to improve poor people’s earning opportunities as a central component of a multifaceted program aimed at ending the scourge of absolute economic misery.

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Who Cries For Sudan: من الذي يرثي السودان, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed Apr 2009

Who Cries For Sudan: من الذي يرثي السودان, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The institutional collapse in Sudan started long time ago. However, it has accelerator in the past years since Nivasha Comprehensive Peace Agreement and Darfur war.

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Well-Being And Its Discontents: A Critique Of Hamilton And Dennis’ Affluenza, Richard Hil, Grant Cairncross Mar 2009

Well-Being And Its Discontents: A Critique Of Hamilton And Dennis’ Affluenza, Richard Hil, Grant Cairncross

Grant Cairncross

This article develops a critique of Hamilton and Dennis's book Affluenza. In recognising many of the strengths of the book in terms of its focus on Australia's consumerist culture, the article nonetheless outlines a range of significant shortcomings in its argument, not least the tendency to overstate the prevalence of consumerist values, the narrow interpretation of what constitutes 'consumerism', the flawed assumptions over marketing, savings and 'downsizing', and the range of culturally loaded assumptions that underpin the text. In asserting that affluence rather than poverty is the main issue in Australia, Hamilton and Dennis tend to sweep aside deep and …

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The Developing World's Bulging (But Vulnerable) Middle Class, Martin Ravallion Jan 2009

The Developing World's Bulging (But Vulnerable) Middle Class, Martin Ravallion

Martin Ravallion

The “developing world’s middle class” is defined as those who live above the median poverty line of developing countries but are still poor by US standards; the “Western middle class” are those not poor by US standards. Although barely 80 million people in the developing world entered the Western middle class over 1990-2002, economic growth and global distributional shifts allowed an extra 1.2 billion people to join the developing world’s middle class. Four-fifths came from Asia, and half from China. Most remained fairly close to poverty, with incomes bunched up just above $2 a day. One in six people now …

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The Basic Income Guarantee And The Goals Of Equality, Efficiency, And Environmentalism, Karl Widerquist, Michael A. Lewis Dec 2008

The Basic Income Guarantee And The Goals Of Equality, Efficiency, And Environmentalism, Karl Widerquist, Michael A. Lewis

Karl Widerquist

The most important issue in equality – if not in all economic policy – is the persistence of poverty. This chapter argues that anti-poverty policy needs to move away from the categorical approach towards universalism, specifically in the form of a Basic Income Guarantee. This chapter argues that the Basic Income Guarantee, in any of its various versions is the most efficient and comprehensive method to attack poverty. It can also be used as part of a strategy for environmental protection.

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