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601. Do We Need a New "Great Transformation"? Is One Likely?

Author:
Frances Stewart
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Karl Polanyi wrote The Great Transformation in 1944 which analysed the double movement Europe experienced, from a situation where the market was heavily regulated and controlled in the eighteenth century to a virtually unregulated market in the nineteenth century, and the huge transformation in which the market was once more brought under control as a reaction to the poverty, unemployment and insecurity brought about by the unregulated market. Yet in both developed and developing countries there has since been a reaction with a new move towards the market. This paper analyses such processes in contemporary developing countries, and considers whether, in the light of the consequences of the unregulated market, a new Great Transformation is needed. It also considers whether such a transformation is likely, reviewing moves towards increased regulation of the market, and also the challenges faced by any contemporary great transformation arising from globalization and the nature of politics.
Topic:
Development, Markets, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Europe

602. Poor People in Environmental Management in Uganda and Tanzania

Author:
Kim Raben, Michael Kidoido, Dositeus Lopa, Zarupa Akello, and Jannik Boesen
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This is a paper on analysing the Participatory Environmental Management (PEMA) programme's impact on poverty, livelihoods, and the knowledge-attitudes-practices syndrome in the Kasyoha- Kitomi forest landscape in Uganda and the South Nguru forest landscape in Tanzania. The objectives of the Participatory Environmental Management (PEMA) programme are to improve the livelihood security of poor, natural resource dependent households [...] and enhance the capacity of civil society and government institutions to design and implement effective ICD programmes The principal purpose is to analyse the poverty situation in each landscape in terms of the level and composition of poverty and the factors causing the poverty of different groups of the population. A secondary purpose is, during the first phase, to be able to indicate the effects of forest management on poor people's livelihoods, to register their relationships with the forest, and not least to analyse the involvement of the poor and marginalised in new initiatives of landscape planning and environmental management. DIIS has developed a methodology for monitoring the poverty impacts of agricultural interventions at household level, which is now being used for this purpose.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, and Tanzania

603. Water reform - implications for rural poor people's access to water

Author:
Helle Munk Ravnborg and Claus Aagaard
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Many countries are currently in a process of water reform, often motivated by increasing and a changing composition – and strength – of demands for fresh water. In many countries this reform process has been met with opposition from all political corners, including traditional water users such as large scale farmers and civil society organizations such as indigenous movements and environmental groups.
Topic:
Development, Health, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa

604. Fiscal Policy for Poverty Reduction, Reconstruction, and Growth

Author:
Matthew Smith, Alan Roe, and Tony Addison
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
An effective state is able to mobilize revenue and spend it on infrastructure, services, and public goods that both enhance human capital and the well-being of communities (especially the poor), as well as stimulating investment and employment creation by the private sector. An effective state also manages public finance to ensure that macroeconomic balance is maintained—with policy neither too restrictive to discourage private investment and growth, nor too accommodative to create high inflation and crowd out private investment. Fiscal issues are therefore at the heart of the state's role in the development process and failure in this policy area—whether it is in taxation, public expenditures, or in managing the fiscal deficit and public debt—can quickly undermine growth and poverty reduction. Fiscal weakness can also be fatal to social peace when one or more ethnic, religious, or regional groups are taxed unfairly—or receives too little in the allocation of public spending.
Topic:
Debt, Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa and Asia

605. Why Foreign Aid to Haiti Failed: (and How to Do It Better Next Time)

Author:
Terry F. Buss and Adam Gardner
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration
Abstract:
Haiti—an island [shared with the Dominican Republic] country of 8 million people about the size of Maryland just 600 miles off the coast of Florida—is an extreme case: it has received billions in foreign assistance, yet persists as one of the poorest and worst governed countries. Haiti is strategically important to the United States because of its location; perpetual state of violence and instability affecting the region; support for drug trafficking; potential as a trading partner; strong ties to a large Haitian-American diaspora; counterbalance to Communist Cuba; and relationship with the Latin American and Caribbean community.
Topic:
Economics, Poverty, Bilateral Relations, Foreign Aid, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States, Cuba, Latin America, Caribbean, and Florida

606. Reducing Global Poverty: Encouraging Private Investment in Infrastructure

Author:
Research and Policy Committee of the Committee for Economic Development
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
This paper builds on some of the findings and recommendations of the 2002 CED policy statement, A Shared Future: Reducing Global Poverty, which broadly examined the phenomenon known as globalization and offered a blueprint for how best to harness economic integration and political cooperation between developed and developing countries towards enhancing economic growth and combating global poverty. Encouraging Private Investment in Infrastructure evaluates various options for public-private partnerships and provides brief analyses of several successful projects in order to identify best practices.
Topic:
Globalization, Poverty, Infrastructure, and Investment
Political Geography:
Global Focus

607. Decentralisation and Poverty Reduction: A Conceptual Framework for the Economic Impact

Author:
Susan Steiner
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper contributes to providing insights into the impact of decentralisation on poverty. It starts out with an overview of which role decentralisation plays in strategies and policies for poverty eradication and derives economic and political impact channels. It concentrates on the economic channel, the reasoning of which is rooted in fiscal federalism theory. It shows that decentralisation cannot only influence poverty by assigning expenditure responsibility to lower levels of government but also by assigning tax-raising power, which has so far been neglected by the literature. The paper concludes by pointing out a number of possible risks for realising the poverty-reducing potential of decentralisation.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Poverty

608. The Private Sector in the Fight Against Global Poverty

Author:
Lael Brainard
Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
In recent weeks, aging rockers have reclaimed young fans by joining movie stars, faith-based groups, and leaders of developing nations in a global campaign to "Make Poverty History." World leaders have taken note: the push is on for a massive boost in official assistance flows and the cancellation of official debt. But as preparations move forward for the first heads of state stocktaking of the Millennium Development Goals at the United Nations in September, scant attention is being directed at the most powerful engine of growth and poverty alleviation: the private sector. This despite the fact that the past two decades have witnessed an enormous shift in resources away from the public sector to private hands, and private flows to developing countries are now more than twice the level of public flows.
Topic:
Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United Nations

609. Moving Toward Smarter Aid

Author:
Lex Rieffel and James W. Fox
Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is seriously wounded. Unveiled by President Bush in March 2002 as a promising new bilateral aid instrument for tackling global poverty, the most prominent sign of the MCC's distress was the mid-summer resignation of Paul Applegarth, its first CEO. More disturbing are the cuts imposed by the Congressional committees marking up next year's budget.
Topic:
Debt, Development, International Cooperation, and Poverty

610. The "Underclass" Revisited: A Social Problem in Decline

Author:
Paul A. Jargowsky and Rebecca Yang
Publication Date:
05-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
No single metric can capture all the dimensions of as complex a phenomenon as poverty in an affluent society. Several different empirical strategies, each with strengths and weaknesses, may all contribute to a more complete understanding of the experience of living in poverty in a modern urban setting. The standard federal measure of poverty focuses narrowly on the income of families in comparison to a standard meant to reflect the cost of basic necessities (Orshansky 1963, 1965). The concentration of poverty adds a geographic component, by gauging the extent to which poor families are spatially isolated (Jargowsky and Bane 1991; Jargowsky 1997, 2003). Neither of these measures, however, adequately conveys the extent of social disorganization in poor neighborhoods that has figured so prominently in the political debates over public policies that address poverty and urban development.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Economics, and Poverty