Other Poverty Study

351 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2119

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Building an Equitable Society in Colombia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-26) World Bank

Colombia’s high level of inequality is a core constraint to economic growth and social progress. The country has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world, the second highest among 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and the highest among all OECD countries. The disparities in income across adults grow from gaps that open early in life in opportunities for high-quality childhood development, education, and health care services. Inequality in access to good jobs further amplifies these gaps, making Colombia among the countries where inequalities are the most persistent across generations. Longstanding inequality across regions overlaps with the large gaps in welfare between Afro-descendants and indigenous Colombians and the rest of the population. The COVID-19 pandemic has further amplified disparities and threatens to have prolonged negative effects, but this is just one of many potential extreme shocks, including climate change, related disruptions, that could substantially widen the inequality gaps. Current tax and transfer policies at best have only a modest positive impact on these imbalances, so there is clearly ample potential to improve the redistributive role of fiscal policy in Colombia. Policy reforms across many areas could help to chart a more equitable future for the country.
A Development Approach to Conflict-Induced Internal Displacement

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021) World Bank

The approach paper provides the rationale for further integration of conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) into World Bank Group (WBG) programming based on its commitment to vulnerable and marginalized populations. It highlights the conflict sensitive engagement required to address the needs of these populations. The purpose of this approach paper is to highlight the key principles for World Bank Group (WBG) engagement to address conflict-induced internal displacement. It provides the rationale for inclusion of IDPs in WBG programming based on its commitment to vulnerable and marginalized populations, while highlighting the conflict-sensitive engagement required to address the needs of these populations. The new World Bank Group Strategy for Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV), endorsed in February 2020, identifies support to situations of internal displacement as a priority area. This approach paper is also situated in the broader context of the WBG agenda to support people on the move due to urbanization and economic migration, as well as those displaced due to natural disasters and the effects of climate change.
A Destiny Shaped by Water: A Diagnostic of Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene and Poverty in Niger

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01-24) World Bank

The Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Poverty Diagnostic (PD) in Niger is part of a global initiative to improve evidence on the linkages between WASH and poverty. The Diagnostic provides a detailed analysis of sector status, strengths, and weaknesses to inform the attainment of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim for universal access to safely managed water supply and sanitation.
Water and Sanitation for All in Tunisia: A Realistic Objective

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-11) World Bank

In recent decades, Tunisia has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty and increasing access to water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. More than 4 million people in Tunisia have gained access to improved sanitation between 1990 and 2015, and 4 million have gained access to water. This is a significant accomplishment, considering that Tunisia is currently home to 11 million people, 33 percent of whom live in rural areas. Despite this progress, however, around 250,000 people in Tunisia still rely on unimproved drinking water from mostly unprotected wells and springs; of the 900,000 people who use unimproved sanitation, about half use shared latrines, and the other half use mostly unimproved latrines. There are also substantial imbalances in terms of water-resource distribution between the better endowed North and the semi-arid South. If left unaddressed, deficiencies could become more severe in the coming years. Tunisia is a water-scarce country, and water supply security challenges are predicted to be exacerbated by climate change in the coming years. Opportunities for improvement are analyzed and condensed into five clear recommendations for the way forward for the WASH sector in Tunisia.
Do Labor Markets Limit the Inclusiveness of Growth in the Dominican Republic?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-08-01) World Bank

The strong economic growth enjoyed by the Dominican Republic following its 2003 domestic crisis was not matched by similarly substantial progress in poverty reduction. While labor productivity grew by an estimated 39 percent between 2000 and 2013, real wages fell with the crisis in 2003/04, and, in 2013, remained below their pre-crisis level. This report presents an assessment of factors related to the functioning of the labor markets that constrained more inclusive growth in the Dominican Republic. It explores several hypotheses related to labor supply factors, job creation, and global trends in returns to labor, as well as issues with statistical measurements that contribute to explain the weak relationship observed between growth and poverty reduction. The analysis finds that growth appears to have been driven by productivity increases rather than by increases in labor inputs. At the same time, low-skilled workers became increasingly concentrated in low-quality jobs and in sectors that saw low productivity growth, a trend enhanced by the loss of manufacturing jobs since 2000. Low rates of labor force participation, particularly among the poor, further limited the ability of households to benefit from growth.
Maintaining the Momentum While Addressing Service Quality and Equity: A Diagnostic of Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Poverty in Ethiopia

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-06-01) World Bank

This summary report presents the findings of the Ethiopia WASH Poverty Diagnostic (EWPD) study led by the World Bank`s Water and Poverty Global Practices. Though Ethiopia has made good progress in increasing access to water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in recent years, the quality of many services are below the standards set for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study review existing institutional structures and challenges that are inhibiting high-quality service delivery. The EWPD also reviews the quality and inequality in access to WASH service between those living in urban and rural areas, as well as different regions, areas of water insecurity and amongst the poorest households. EWPD also attempts to show the implications of poor access to WASH services on human development (health, nutrition, and education) and poverty reduction. The analysis aims to support the government and other stakeholders identify gaps in service delivery and answer questions on why these gaps exist. The report concludes by offering recommendations for moving Ethiopia`s WASH sector forward.
Does Fiscal Policy Benefit the Poor and Reduce Inequality in Namibia?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-06) Namibia Statistics Agency ; World Bank

Reducing poverty and inequality continues to be an important national priority in Namibia. Vision 2030 – the country’s guiding development strategy – has a subordinate vision that points to several goals: “Poverty is reduced to the minimum, the existing pattern of income-distribution is equitable and disparity is at the minimum.” Vision 2030 is being implemented via a series of five-year National Development Plans, with the current National Development Plan IV (NDP4) covering 2012 through to 2017. NDP4 sets specific numerical targets. One is reducing the incidence of extreme poverty to less than 10 percent of individuals by the end of FY2016/17, measured at the national lower bound poverty line of N$277.54 in 2009/10. This report demonstrates that Namibia’s progressive income tax and generous social spending programs substantially reduce poverty and inequality, but the analysis also underscores the limits of what redistributive fiscal measures alone can accomplish. The economy must ultimately create more jobs for the poorest members of society to change the underlying distribution of what might be called “pre-fiscal” income; i.e., the income before households pay taxes and receive benefits from social programs. This will require structural transformation through greater investment in activities that create employment for unskilled workers and offer the potential for continuous productivity increases. This report aims to measure the effectiveness of these efforts and draws comparisons to the experiences of other countries. It estimates how major taxes and social spending programs affect individual incomes. It then assesses who benefits from or bears the burden of each instrument and by how much. This way, the analysis estimates the contribution of each instrument to reducing the poverty headcount and the Gini coefficient, a standard measure of inequality. The analysis provides evidence that can shape public debates over government spending and the design of social programs.
Ghana Work Program (FY15): Poverty and Inequality Profile

(Washington, DC, 2015-06) World Bank

Since 1991 the national poverty rate of Ghana has more than halved. The estimated national headcount poverty ratio fell by 31.2 percentage points from 52.6 percent in 1991 to 21.41 percent in 2012. Heterogeneity of poverty outcomes is, however, high both across urban and rural areas and across regions. The robustness of these poverty trends is checked with trends of five correlates: urbanization and rural-urban migration, remittances, asset growth, labor market transformations, and agricultural productivity growth. Urbanization turns out to be highly correlated with poverty reduction. Poverty trends and asset index trends turn out to follow a similar pattern in both urban and rural areas and by regions: asset index increase where poverty decreases. In the report the authors try to understand the drivers of recent decrease in poverty in northern regions. The attention is focused on two different aspects, the agricultural productivity growth and the inflation patterns. In northern regions, there is a generalized increase in production of main food crops and an increase in productivity. To test the contribution of most of these drivers to poverty reduction, the authors estimated unconditional quintile regressions over the 20th, 40th, and 60th percentiles and decomposed the results using the Oaxaca Blinder method. To further strengthen the spatial analysis of poverty the authors constructed a new poverty map based on sixth Ghana living standard survey (GLSS 6) (conducted in 2012-13) in combination with the 2010 census, which was then compared with the 2000 map. This profile focuses on inequalities seen from three different perspectives: consumption inequality, inequalities of opportunities, and polarization.
FYR of Macedonia: Measuring Welfare using the Survey of Income and Living Conditions

(Washington, DC, 2015-05) World Bank

This note expands the analysis on poverty and income distribution reported by the FYR Macedonia SSO for 2010 and 2011. The present work is based on an analysis performed in-situ by World Bank staff on the offices of the FYR Macedonian SSO.
An Update on Poverty and Inequality in Albania: Nine Stylized Facts

(Washington, DC, 2015-05) World Bank

This note presents 9 stylized facts that emerge related to the evolution of poverty and inequality over the 2002 to 2012 period, especially from 2008 to 2012, as well as some insights into the drivers of poverty changes. It complements existing work on monitoring and understanding shared prosperity – the second corporate goal of the World Bank along with reducing poverty - in Albania and the Western Balkans. Albania poverty estimates are based on the Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS). The LSMS is conducted by the Albania Statistics Office (INSTAT) with donor funding and has been carried out in 2002, 2005, 2008 and recently in 2012.