The estimates of the extent, distribution and trend of global income poverty provided in the World Bank's World Development Reports for 1990 and 2000/01 are neither meaningful nor reliable. The Bank uses an arbitrary international poverty line unrelated to any clear conception of what poverty is. It employs a misleading and inaccurate measure of purchasing power “equivalence” that vitiates inte...

The distinguishing feature of chronic poverty is extended duration in absolute poverty. Therefore, chronically poor people always, or usually, live below a poverty line, which is normally defined in terms of a money indicator (e.g. consumption, income, etc.), but could also be defined in terms of wider or subjective aspects of deprivation. This is different from the transitorily poor, who move ...

This paper investigates the development of poverty in Sweden using micro data derived from tax files for the city of Göteborg for the years 1925, 1936, 1947 and 1958, as well as more recent (1983, 1994 and 2003) information. We define poverty as living in a household with a disposable income lower than a poverty line that represents a constant purchasing power all years, as well as poverty line...

I consider two issues concerning how to monitor global poverty for the Millennium Development Goals, the selection of poverty lines, and the data sources for monitoring poverty over time. I discuss the choice of a single international line, converted using purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates, versus the use of country-specific poverty lines. I note the difficulties in constructing PPP ...

Nigeria represents one of the paradoxes of development in which case the nation is rich but her people are poor. This study examines the rate of poverty among rural households in South western, Nigeria. A random multistage sampling was employed for the study. Ekiti and Osun states were randomly selected from the six states in South-western Nigeria. This was followed by random selection of two L...

This optimistic view did not carry over into the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, economic growth seemed to have lost its poverty reduction punch. While employment expanded, the jobs created seemed unable to lift workers and their families above the poverty line. If this apparently weakened linkage between economic growth and poverty still persists, the optimistic beliefs underlying the TAN...

When in 2002 the world leaders gathered in Johannesburg for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the number of people below the poverty line and the extent of environmental degradation facing them had never been greater. In the Asia and Pacific region, with two thirds of the world’s poor, addressing poverty reduction and environmental management in a more integrated manner is central to...

We examine the role of intergenerational coresidence in shaping the economic well-being of single mothers in Japan. Using data from a large national survey, we begin by demonstrating that the “official” poverty rate for single mothers (which is based on those living alone) overstates the poverty rate of all single mothers by about 50%. We then show that the poverty rate of mothers would have de...

Poverty is likely to deepen as the AIDS epidemic takes its course, with households being caught up in a vicious cycle of poverty and HIV/AIDS. This paper shows that affected households are poorer than non-affected households, regardless of whether income is measured at the household, per capita or adult equivalent level and regardless of the poverty line or poverty measure employed in measuring...

The Redistributive Effects of Political Reservation for Minorities: Evidence from India We examine the impact of political reservation for disadvantaged minority groups on poverty. To address the concern that political reservation is endogenous in the relationship between poverty and reservation, we take advantage of the state-time variation in reservation in state legislative assemblies in Ind...