Other Poverty Study

351 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

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.
Multidimensional Poverty in Malaysia: Improving Measurement and Policies in the 2020s

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-30) Simler, Kenneth ; Ali Ahmad, Zainab

It has long been recognized that poverty is multidimensional, comprising not only insufficient income but also deprivations in access to basic services, the quality of living conditions, personal security, and other aspects of well-being. Since 2010 there has been rapid growth in the development and use of quantitative measures of multidimensional poverty. This paper analyzes the construction and use of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) in Malaysia, which the Malaysian government introduced in its national development plan for 2015–2020. It examines avenues for improving the relevance of the MPI in policy discourse by setting deprivation thresholds of the various MPI dimensions (health, education, living conditions, income) at levels more appropriate for an upper-middle-income country such as Malaysia. Recent national survey data are used to estimate the quantitative impact of incrementally adjusting the thresholds of indicators in the current MPI. The potential for new indicators is also explored, drawing from the MPIs used in other middle- and high-income countries. The role of the MPI for informing and monitoring anti-poverty policies is discussed, focusing on unpacking the dimensions of poverty embedded in the MPI, so that policies are better matched to the deprivations observed.
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.
Compounding Misfortunes: Changes in Poverty Since the Onset of COVID-19 on Syrian Refugees and Host Communities in Jordan, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Lebanon

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12-16) Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement ; World Bank Group ; UNHCR

COVID-19 (coronavirus) has had an enormous impact on nearly every country in the world. However, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon were already facing difficult to extreme circumstances even before the pandemic erupted, making them particularly vulnerable. This report looks at the impact of the pandemic, associated lockdowns and economic shocks and other misfortunes which have compounded the crisis, such as sharply lower oil revenues in Iraq and the Port of Beirut explosion in Lebanon, as well as political instability in both. The report estimates that 4.4 million people in the host communities and 1.1 million refugees or IDPs were driven into poverty in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, and while this considers all of Lebanon, it only includes three governorates in Jordan and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, due to data limitations. A response commensurate with the magnitude of the shock is needed to prevent further misery. The poverty impact of COVID-19 and the ensuing confinement policies and economic contractions have been felt throughout the world, not least by marginalized communities. However, COVID-19 has compounded existing vulnerabilities or crises in Jordan, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and Lebanon. Syrian refugees – most of whom have been displaced for up to nine years – are particularly exposed given their perilous pre-crisis situation. Host communities in these three countries, who have supported and accommodated such large numbers of refugees, have also been heavily affected; all three countries were in strained positions prior to COVID-19, ranging from economic stagnation and high public debt in Jordan, to a collapse in public revenues due to international oil price shocks in KRI, to complete political and economic crisis in Lebanon. By March 2020, all three countries had witnessed their first cases of COVID-19 and introduced stringent containment policies ranging from partial closures of schools and shops to full curfew. While these measures were initially largely successful in containing the spread of the pandemic, they also led to a decline in economic activity across most sectors, particularly in the informal market. In Jordan and Iraq, the losses are estimated at around 8.2 and 10.5 percent of 2019’s GDP respectively. In Lebanon where the COVID-19 crisis is compounded by economic and political crises the losses are much higher, around 25 percent of GDP. Lebanon has experienced inflation of over 100 percent, largely due to its import dependence and currency depreciation. Unsurprisingly, given the magnitude of these shocks, recent rapid needs assessments and UNHCR administrative data show that refugees, who are highly concentrated in low-skilled jobs in the informal sector, have had to reduce food intake, incur additional debt and in some instances suffered eviction.
Is the Sudan Cash Transfer Program Benefiting the Poor? Evidence from the Latest Household Survey

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-03) Etang Ndip, Alvin ; Hassan, Fareed ; Osman, Eiman

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.