Other Poverty Study
351 items available
Permanent URI for this collection
Items in this collection
1 - 10 of 12
-
Publication
Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in South Sudan, Report No. 1: Results from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-22)There is an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and protect the welfare of the South Sudanese citizens. To respond to this need, the World Bank designed and conducted a rapid phone-based Household Monitoring Survey (HMS). This brief summarizes the results of the first round of the HMS, implemented between June 9 and June 25, 2020. -
Publication
COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Uganda, Round 1
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-20)In June 2020, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, with the support from the World Bank, has launched the High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19 to track the impacts of the pandemic on a monthly basis for a period of 12 months. The survey aimed to re-contact the entire sample of households that had been interviewed during the Uganda National Panel Survey 2019/20 round and that had phone numbers for at least one household member or a reference individual. This report presents the findings from the first round of the survey that was conducted during the period of June 3-20, 2020. -
Publication
From Isolation to Integration: The Borderlands of the Horn of Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-03-01)The World Bank Group's Horn of Africa Regional Initiative promotes resilience and economic opportunity in one of the world’s most challenging regions for security and development. Within the region, extreme poverty, vulnerability, fragility, and food insecurity are disproportionately concentrated in the arid and remote border regions. But despite its challenges, there are areas in the borderlands with real economic potential. For example, the region's international borders have long allowed communities to benefit from price differentials through licit and illicit trade (Scott-Villiers 2015). Pastoralism and trade, the dominant livelihoods in the Horn of Africa, require the easy movement of people and goods within and across borders—and continue to heavily rely on cross-country clan and ethnic affiliations. Local institutions therefore still play a key role in regulating and facilitating economic activity and managing conflict, especially as the formal institutions are often weak or absent. Even in areas at the periphery of state control, the borderlands remain highly connected to circuits of global capital and exchange. -
Publication
Is the Sudan Cash Transfer Program Benefiting the Poor? Evidence from the Latest Household Survey
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-03)The objective of this note is to assess the extent to which the CT program is benefiting intended poor households and the appropriateness of the benefit level under the current inflation situation for poverty reduction. This assessment is needed now more than ever as the impending reforms will require having an appropriate system in place for social safety net delivery for the poor and vulnerable. If CT programs are to reach and aid the poor, then ensuring a correlation between poverty and program beneficiaries must be prioritized. Are current beneficiaries of the Sudan CT program, poor households? If targeting is weak, and the answer to the question is no, then scaling up the existing CT program may not achieve its poverty reduction objective. The note proceeds as follows. Section two presents an overview of Sudan’s CT program, including background details, targeting approach used, the number of beneficiaries and the cash transfer amount. Section three shows the extent to which the CT program is benefiting intended poor households based on evidence from the latest household survey data. Section four evaluates the value of the cash transfer, proposing a correct amount required to lift households out of poverty. Section five concludes this note, and additionally, proposes a number of policy recommendations. -
Publication
Informing Durable Solutions for Internal Displacement in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan: Technical Aspects
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04-18)Understanding forced displacement and developing effective solutions requires closing several critical gaps in the data. With forced displacement rising worldwide, the body of work on displacement is growing rapidly. Data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) are particularly problematic, as the distinction between IDPs and internal migrants are not consistent across countries, and as the presence and number of IDPs is often politicized. While efforts have been made to create standardized frameworks for collecting quantitative data on forced displacement, important data gaps persist. This study helps to close data gaps by using micro-level data to profile IDPs. The report uses micro-data, defined as individual and household-level data that is collected directly through personal interviews. Comprehensive micro-data surveys cover IDP populations in four countries in Sub Saharan Africa: Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. The micro-data surveys represent IDPs, refugees, and non-displaced populations. The analysis is guided by the durable solutions indicator framework while the policy insights focus on overcoming displacement-induced vulnerability. The analysis examines the demographic structure of IDP and resident populations and draws on reasons triggering displacement. -
Publication
Informing Durable Solutions for Internal Displacement in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan: Country Case Studies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04-18)Understanding forced displacement and developing effective solutions requires closing several critical gaps in the data. With forced displacement rising worldwide, the body of work on displacement is growing rapidly. Data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) are particularly problematic, as the distinction between IDPs and internal migrants are not consistent across countries, and as the presence and number of IDPs is often politicized. While efforts have been made to create standardized frameworks for collecting quantitative data on forced displacement, important data gaps persist. This study helps to close data gaps by using micro-level data to profile IDPs. The report uses micro-data, defined as individual and household-level data that is collected directly through personal interviews. Comprehensive micro-data surveys cover IDP populations in four countries in Sub Saharan Africa: Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. The micro-data surveys represent IDPs, refugees, and non-displaced populations. The analysis is guided by the durable solutions indicator framework while the policy insights focus on overcoming displacement-induced vulnerability. The analysis examines the demographic structure of IDP and resident populations and draws on reasons triggering displacement. -
Publication
Informing Durable Solutions for Internal Displacement in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan: Overview
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04-18)Understanding forced displacement and developing effective solutions requires closing several critical gaps in the data. With forced displacement rising worldwide, the body of work on displacement is growing rapidly. Data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) are particularly problematic, as the distinction between IDPs and internal migrants are not consistent across countries, and as the presence and number of IDPs is often politicized. While efforts have been made to create standardized frameworks for collecting quantitative data on forced displacement, important data gaps persist. This study helps to close data gaps by using micro-level data to profile IDPs. The report uses micro-data, defined as individual and household-level data that is collected directly through personal interviews. Comprehensive micro-data surveys cover IDP populations in four countries in Sub Saharan Africa: Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. The micro-data surveys represent IDPs, refugees, and non-displaced populations. The analysis is guided by the durable solutions indicator framework while the policy insights focus on overcoming displacement-induced vulnerability. The analysis examines the demographic structure of IDP and resident populations and draws on reasons triggering displacement. -
Publication
Mauritius: Earnings Mobility and Inequality of Opportunity in the Labor Market
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-03-22)This report sheds light on the extent to which earnings mobility and inequality of opportunity in access to the labor market have contributed to the increase in earnings inequality in Mauritius. Among the most important concerns about rising inequality is a situation where people become trapped in low-paying jobs and do not have the opportunity to improve their welfare through their own efforts. For this reason, this report takes a closer look at the extent and nature of earnings mobility and inequality of opportunity in the Mauritian labor market. -
Publication
Fiscal Incidence Analysis for Kenya: Using the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey 2015-16
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06-29)Kenya has made satisfactory progress in reducing poverty and inequality in recent years. Economic growth in Kenya between 2005-06 and 2015-16 averaged around 5.3 percent, exceeding the average growth of 4.9 percent observed for Sub-Saharan Africa. This robust economic growth resulted in a reduction in poverty, whether measured by the national or international poverty line. The proportion of the population living beneath the national poverty line fell from 46.8 percent in 2005-06 to 36.1 percent in 2015-16, showing a modest improvement in the living standards of the Kenyan population. Similarly, poverty under the international poverty line of US$ 1.90 a day declined from 43.6 percent in 2005-06 to 35.6 percent in 2015-16. At this level, poverty in Kenya is below the average in sub-Saharan Africa and is amongst the lowest in the East African Community (World Bank, 2018b). However, the proportion of the population living in poverty remains comparatively high in Kenya and the rate at which growth translated into poverty reduction was lower than elsewhere. At twice the average, Kenya’s poverty rate is still high for a lower-middle income country, a group that Kenya joined only in 2015. In addition, the Kenya’s growth elasticity of poverty reduction, the percentage reduction in the poverty rate associated with a one-percent increase in mean per capita income is only 0.57, lower than in Tanzania, Ghana, or Uganda (World Bank, 2018b). This leads to the obvious question of what can be done to make economic growth more pro-poor in Kenya. This study assesses the distributional consequences of Kenya’s system of taxes and transfers, covering 60 percent of revenue and between 25 and 30 percent of government spending. The analysis of fiscal incidence and distributional consequences of Kenya’s tax and transfer system is an important input for designing pro-poor policies and potentially for influencing the rate at which economic growth translates into poverty reduction. In this study, direct taxes and transfers, indirect taxes (VAT and excise duties), as well as public health and education spending are assessed in terms of their distributional impacts. Overall, these taxes and transfers account for about 60 percent of revenue and between 25 and 30 percent of government spending. -
Publication
Mauritius Addressing Inequality through More Equitable Labor Markets
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-26)Mauritius is often cited as one of the few African success stories, and with good reason. In the aftermath of independence (1968), this small island nation in the Indian Ocean seemed to be bound for economic failure because of its high poverty rate and numerous vulnerabilities, including high population growth, ethnic tensions, substantial unemployment, and an economy greatly dependent on the production of sugar for international markets. However, Mauritius was successful in diversifying the economy and accomplishing an unprecedented structural transformation.The Inclusiveness of Growth and Shared Prosperity report (World Bank 2015a) turned the spotlight on the expanding gap of inequality in household incomes that occurred between 2007 and 2012 and on the negative impact on poverty. The report estimates that the incidence of absolute poverty between 2007 and 2012 would have declined twice as quickly had growth been shared more widely and inequality not worsened. Building on these earlier findings, this study investigates the driving forces behind the growing income inequality and identifies policy levers that could mitigate and, in the long run, possibly reverse the upward trend.This study takes a comprehensive approach to the determinants of inequality by including the role of the choices of households and individuals, markets, and institutions. The report is structured as follows. Chapter one sets the stage by presenting stylized facts on the trends in household income inequality between 2001 and 2015, comparing these trends with trends in consumption inequality, and identifying the main culprit behind the rapidly rising inequality in household incomes, that is, household labor income. Chapter two supplies a set of descriptive trends of the two groups of factors, namely, household demographics and labor market forces, that contribute to changes in household laborincome and follows up with a decomposition exercise on changes in household labor income between 2001 and 2015.Because the analysis indicates that an unequal increase in female labor force participation and rising inequality in individual earnings are among the main contributors to the expanding inequality in household labor income, Chapter three takes a deep dive into the issue of gender inequality in the labor market. The chapter illustrates the gender gap in labor market participation, describes the differences in the activities of working women in the labor market relative to men, and concludes with a detailed analysis of gender gaps in wages separately in the public and private sectors. Chapter four resumes the main analysis of the drivers of increasing inequality in individual earnings. The chapter first presents stylized facts about overall inequality in wages and then separates out changes in inequality between and within groups defined by demographic characteristics. The chapter distinguishes the role of changes in prices (or wages) and the role of changes in the composition of the workforce in rising earnings inequality. The second part of the chapter is devoted to the analysis of the role of the main potential drivers of expanding earnings inequality. The possible candidates include the interaction of changes in labor supply and labor demand, giving rise to skills shortages or surpluses, and changes in labor market institutions, namely, remuneration orders (ROs). The chapter concludes with an analysis of an additional source of skills mismatches among the employed population, namely, education mismatches, and advances potential explanations for the coexistence of a substantial skills shortage, over education, particularly among youth, and a large share of highly educated youth among the unemployed.