Barbier, Edward B.Hochard, Jacob P.2014-12-032014-12-032014-11https://hdl.handle.net/10986/20616According to global spatial data sets in 2000 more than one-third of the rural population in developing countries was located on less favored agricultural land and areas. Less favored agricultural lands are susceptible to low productivity and degradation, because their agricultural potential is constrained biophysically by terrain, poor soil quality, or limited rainfall. Less favored agricultural areas include less favored agricultural lands plus favorable agricultural land that is remote, that is, land in rural areas with high agricultural potential but with limited access. The paper presents tests of whether these spatial distributions of rural population influence poverty directly or indirectly via income growth in 83 developing countries from 2000 to 2012. The analysis finds no evidence of a direct impact on poverty, but there is a significant indirect impact via the elasticity of poverty reduction with respect to growth. Reducing poverty requires targeting rural populations in less favored lands and remote areas, in addition to encouraging out-migration in some areas.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYACCESS TO GOODSACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTUREACCESS TO IRRIGATIONACCESS TO MARKETSAGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTAGRICULTURAL LANDAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITYAGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGYARABLE LANDARID LANDSAVERAGE INCOMEAVERAGE INCOME GROWTHCHANGES IN POVERTYCHRONIC POVERTYCONSUMPTION EXPENDITURECONSUMPTION GROWTHCONSUMPTION PER CAPITACOUNTRY LEVELCUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTIONCUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONDATA SETSDEMOCRACYDENSITY FUNCTIONDEPENDENT VARIABLEDESCRIPTIVE STATISTICSDETERMINANT OF POVERTYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRYDEVELOPING REGIONDEVELOPING REGIONSDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT INDICATORSDEVELOPMENT POLICYDEVELOPMENT REPORTDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHECOLOGICAL ZONESECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMICSECONOMICS LETTERSEMPIRICAL RESULTSERROR TERMESTIMATED ELASTICITYESTIMATION RESULTSEXPLAINING CHANGESEXPLANATORY VARIABLESFARM EMPLOYMENTFARMING SYSTEMSFOOD POLICYGEOGRAPHIC POVERTY TRAPSGINI INDEXGLOBAL ENVIRONMENTGLOBAL POVERTYGROSS NATIONAL INCOMEGROWTH ELASTICITYGROWTH PRO-POORGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESGROWTH REGRESSIONGROWTH REGRESSIONSHEADCOUNT POVERTYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSIMPACT ON POVERTYINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINCOMEINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME ELASTICITYINCOME GROWTHINCREASE POVERTYINEQUALITYINTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEINTERNATIONAL MIGRATIONLEVEL OF POVERTYLIFE EXPECTANCYLOCATION OF POPULATIONSMEAN INCOMEMEAN INCOME GROWTHMEAN INCOMESMICRO MODELMIGRATIONNATIONAL ACCOUNTSNATIONAL BOUNDARIESNATURAL CAPITAL0 HYPOTHESISPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLICY BRIEFPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOORPOOR FARMERSPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR MARKET ACCESSPOOR PEOPLEPOOR SOIL QUALITYPOPULATION GROUPPOVERTY ANALYSISPOVERTY CHANGESPOVERTY DYNAMICSPOVERTY HEADCOUNT INDEXPOVERTY INCIDENCEPOVERTY LEVELPOVERTY LEVELSPOVERTY LINEPOVERTY MEASUREPOVERTY MEASUREMENTPOVERTY MEASURESPOVERTY RATEPOVERTY REDUCTIONPOVERTY TRAPSPOVERTY-REDUCING GROWTHPRIMARY SCHOOLPROGRESSPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYREDUCING POVERTYREGIONAL APPROACHREGIONAL DUMMIESREMITTANCESREMOTE AREASREMOTE RURAL AREASRESPECTRULE OF LAWRURALRURAL AREASRURAL PEOPLERURAL POORRURAL POPULATIONRURAL POPULATIONSRURAL POVERTYSEMI-ARID REGIONSSOIL DEGRADATIONSPATIAL ANALYSISSPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONSPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONSPATIAL INEQUALITYSPATIAL POPULATION DISTRIBUTIONSTANDARD DEVIATIONSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTARGETINGTRADE OPENNESSWATER MANAGEMENTWELFARE INDICATOR10.1596/1813-9450-7101