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Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
For Ye Have The Poor Always With You: Exploring China's Latest War On Poverty, John A. Donaldson
For Ye Have The Poor Always With You: Exploring China's Latest War On Poverty, John A. Donaldson
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
John Donaldson’s section discusses Xi Jinping’s ambitious pledge to end poverty in China by 2020, toward which the CCP has deployed a locally adaptable set of policies that have mobilized actors in the public and private sectors and tied officials’ performance to success in poverty reduction. The Party understands that poverty—a manifestation of a severe inability to provide a good life for the people—represents a concerning indictment of the regime’s legitimacy overall. This paper fills in an analytic gap among Western sources regarding these programs, which have to date seen well over fifty billion dollars of poverty alleviation funding disbursed …
Obstacles To Accessing Pro-Poor Microcredit Programs In China: Evidence From Penggan Village, Guizhou, Deborah Shu Yi Tan, Track Tze Tuan Tan, Shao Tong Ling, John A. Donaldson
Obstacles To Accessing Pro-Poor Microcredit Programs In China: Evidence From Penggan Village, Guizhou, Deborah Shu Yi Tan, Track Tze Tuan Tan, Shao Tong Ling, John A. Donaldson
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Why do poor farmers not take up microcredit loans, even when the terms are designed to be pro-poor? Fieldwork in a village in China’s Guizhou province revealed a puzzle: although the county government had designed a loan program that was intended to be unusually pro-poor, only three of the 349 eligible households had successfully applied. This article analyzes three potential hypotheses: farmer failure (risk aversion or financial illiteracy), market failure (lack of viable or stable market opportunities), and institutional failure (structural or institutional barriers precluding taking up loans). Based on evidence from intensive interviews, we reject the first hypothesis, and …
Concepts And Measurement Of Vulnerability To Poverty And Other Issues: A Review Of Literature, Tomoki Fujii
Concepts And Measurement Of Vulnerability To Poverty And Other Issues: A Review Of Literature, Tomoki Fujii
Research Collection School Of Economics
This paper reviews the growing body of literature on vulnerability. We first provide a survey of existing studies on the concepts and measurements of vulnerability to poverty by classifying them into welfarist, expected poverty, and axiomatic approaches. We then review a number of empirical studies on vulnerability to poverty in Asia and elsewhere. This review shows that poverty and vulnerability are related, but different, and that key determinants of vulnerability often include education and location. We also briefly review other areas of vulnerability analysis such as vulnerability to climate change and offer various policy implications arising from vulnerability analysis.
Climate Change And Vulnerability To Poverty: An Empirical Investigation In Rural Indonesia, Tomoki Fujii
Climate Change And Vulnerability To Poverty: An Empirical Investigation In Rural Indonesia, Tomoki Fujii
Research Collection School Of Economics
Scientists estimate that anthropogenic climate change leads to increased surface temperature, sea-level rise, more frequent and significant extreme weather and climate events, among others. In this study, we investigate how climate change can potentially change the vulnerability to poverty using a panel data set in Indonesia. We focus on the effect of drought and flood, two of the commonly observed disasters there. Our simulation results indicate that vulnerability to poverty may increase substantially as a result of climate change in Indonesia.
Economic Status And Old-Age Health In Poverty-Stricken Myanmar, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel
Economic Status And Old-Age Health In Poverty-Stricken Myanmar, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Objective: We examine the association between poverty, economic inequality, and health among elderly in Myanmar. Method: We analyze 2012 data from Myanmar’s first representative survey of older adults to investigate how health indicators vary across wealth quintiles as measured by household possessions and housing quality. Results: Poverty and poor health are pervasive. Self-assessed health, sensory impairment, and functional limitation consistently improve with higher wealth levels regardless of socio-demographic controls. Differentials in self-rated health and sensory impairment between the bottom and second quintiles are clearly evident, suggesting that relative economic inequality matters even among very poor elders and that a small …
A Handbook On Inequality, Poverty And Unmet Social Needs In Singapore, Catherine J. Smith, John A. Donaldson, Sanushka Mudaliar, Mumtaz Md Kadir, Lam Keong Yeoh
A Handbook On Inequality, Poverty And Unmet Social Needs In Singapore, Catherine J. Smith, John A. Donaldson, Sanushka Mudaliar, Mumtaz Md Kadir, Lam Keong Yeoh
Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research
The authors of the handbook conclude that efforts to address poverty, inequality and unmet social needs in Singapore would be greatly enhanced by: (a) the development of locally relevant and nuanced monetary and non-monetary measures of poverty that are made publicly available; and (b) more sharing of disaggregated data from government studies and surveys. These steps would enable academics, VWOs and the public at large become more aware of the issues related to poverty and inequality in Singapore, and be placed in a better position to weigh in on debates and solutions.
Institutional Entrepreneurship, Governance And Poverty: Insights From Emergency Medical Response Services In India, Gerard George, Rekha Rao-Nicholson, Christopher Corbishley, Rahul Bansal
Institutional Entrepreneurship, Governance And Poverty: Insights From Emergency Medical Response Services In India, Gerard George, Rekha Rao-Nicholson, Christopher Corbishley, Rahul Bansal
Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business
We present an in-depth case study of GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute, an Indian public–private partnership (PPP), which successfully brought emergency medical response to remote and urban settings. Drawing insights from the case, we investigate how the organization established itself through institutional entrepreneurship using a process conceptualized as opportunity framing, entrenchment, and propagation. The case and context highlight the need for innovation in organizational design and governance modes to create a new opportunity that connects state actors, private healthcare providers, and the public at large. We consider the role of open innovation and novel business models in creating these …
Infrastructure Provision, Gender And Poverty In Indian Slums, Prithi Parikh, Kun Fu, Himanshu Parikh, Allan Mcrobie, Gerard George
Infrastructure Provision, Gender And Poverty In Indian Slums, Prithi Parikh, Kun Fu, Himanshu Parikh, Allan Mcrobie, Gerard George
Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business
We examine the relationship between infrastructure provision and poverty alleviation by analyzing 500 interviews conducted in serviced and non-serviced slums in India. Using a mixed-method approach of qualitative analysis and regression modeling, we find that infrastructure was associated with a 66% increase in education among females. Service provision increased literacy by 62%, enhanced income by 36%, and reduced health costs by 26%. Evidence suggests that a gender-sensitive consideration of infrastructure is necessary and that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach will not suffice. We provide evidence that infrastructure investment is critical for well-being of slum dwellers and women in particular.
How Well Can We Target Aid With Rapidly Collected Data? Empirical Results For Poverty Mapping From Cambodia, Tomoki Fujii
How Well Can We Target Aid With Rapidly Collected Data? Empirical Results For Poverty Mapping From Cambodia, Tomoki Fujii
Research Collection School Of Economics
We compare commune-level poverty rankings in Cambodia based on three different methods: small-area estimation, principal component analysis using aggregate data, and interviews with local leaders. While they provide reasonably consistent rankings, the choice of the ranking method matters. In order to assess the potential losses from moving away from census-based poverty mapping, we used the concentration curve. Our calculation shows that about three-quarters of the potential gains from geographic targeting may be lost by using aggregate data. The usefulness of aggregate data in general would depend on the cost of data collection.
Changing Transitions To Adulthood In Vietnam's Remote Northern Uplands: A Focus On Ethnic Minority Youth And Their Families, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Hac Van Vinh, Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan
Changing Transitions To Adulthood In Vietnam's Remote Northern Uplands: A Focus On Ethnic Minority Youth And Their Families, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Hac Van Vinh, Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Vietnam’s rapid economic growth has provided young Vietnamese new opportunities unheard of in their parents’ generation. This is, however, not the case for ethnic minority youth. Many of them are among the poorest, least healthy, and least educated. Ethnic minorities, who tend to live in remote mountainous areas, account for 15 percent of Vietnam’s 84 million total population and, according to a recent estimate, 61 percent of them are poor. Evidence suggests that despite recent efforts of the Government of Vietnam in promoting poverty reduction in remote areas, a majority of ethnic minorities have not yet experienced positive change, contrary …