Urbanisation, Sustainable Growth and Poverty Reduction in Asia

Technology and Poverty Reduction in South Asia

The 2008 Human Development Report (HDR) makes a drastic but a significant departure from the previous analysis in the past reports by examining the relationship between Technology and Poverty reduction. The two channels through which Technology can affect poverty reduction are indirect, i.e. by accelerating growth impulses via productivity gains and direct, i.e. by using technology in better he...

Benefits of urbanisation in Asia

This report reviews selected literature on urbanisation in East, South and South-East Asia, and draws out its developmental benefits and lessons for donors. There is a strong evidence base on urbanisation and urban poverty in the academic and economic literature, but it mostly looks at the development challenges of increasing urbanisation. In Asia-Pacific, as in other areas, urbanisation is lea...

Rural Poverty Reduction Strategy for South Asia

Roughly 40 percent of the world’s poor live in South Asia, where poverty is basically a rural problem. Therefore, a significant gain in rural poverty reduction in this sub-region will be crucial to reach the international poverty reduction target. Based on the analysis and experience of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), this paper argues that to be successful, poverty ...

Urbanisation, Industrialisation and Sustainable Development

This paper describes two important transformations of the past century: industrialisation and urbanisation. These transformations will continue in the new century and create policy challenges because the use of land, materials and energy will increasingly meet natural limits or be constrained by intergenerational equity arguments. New local and international institutional arrangements will be n...

Aid, Growth, and Poverty Reduction