Download or read book Poverty Correlates and Indicator based Targeting in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union written by Christiaan Grootaert and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: July 1998 Social protection systems in the transition economies have been inadequate to meet the challenges of transition, being both costly and poorly targeted. The largest group of poor people is the working poor-especially workers with little education (primary education or less) or outdated vocational or technical education. Grootaert and Braithwaite compare poverty in three Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland) with poverty in three countries of the former Soviet Union (Estonia, Kyrgyz Republic, and Russia). They find striking differences between the post-Soviet and Eastern European experiences with poverty and targeting. Among patterns detected: * Poverty in Eastern Europe is significantly lower than in former Soviet Union countries. * Rural poverty is greater than urban poverty. * In Eastern Europe there is a strong correlation between poverty incidence and the number of children in a household; in the former Soviet Union countries this is less pronounced, except in Russia. * There is a gender and age dimension to poverty in some countries. In single-person households, especially of elderly women, the poverty rate is very high (except in Poland) and poverty is more severe. The same is true in pensioner households (except in Poland). In Poland the pension system has adequate reach. * Poverty rates are highest among people who have lost their connection with the labor market and live on social transfers (other than pensions) or other nonearned income. But through sheer mass, the largest group of poor people is the working poor-especially workers with little education (primary education or less) or outdated vocational or technical education. Only those with special skills or university education escape poverty in great numbers, thanks to the demand for their skills from the newly emerging private sector. * The poverty gap is remarkably uniform in Eastern European countries, especially Hungary and Poland, suggesting that social safety nets have prevented the emergence of deep pockets of poverty. This is much less true in the former Soviet Union, where those with the highest poverty rate also have the largest poverty gap. In the short to medium term, creating employment in the informal sector will generate a larger payoff than creating jobs in the formal (still to be privatized) sector, so programs to help (prospective) entrepreneurs should take center stage in poverty alleviation programs. This paper is a joint product of the Social Development Department and Europe and Central Asia, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Sector Unit. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Poverty and Targeting of Social Assistance in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (RPO 680-33). The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].
Download or read book Poverty Correlates and Indicator Based Targeting in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union written by Christian Grootaert and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Taking Stock of Shock written by Kristen Ghodsee and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: Transition from communism - qualified success or utter catastrophe? -- The plan for a J-curve transition -- Plan meets reality -- Modifying the framework -- Counter-narratives of catastrophe -- Where have all the people gone? -- The mortality crisis -- Collapse in fertility -- Outmigration crisis -- Disappointment with transition -- Public opinion of winners and losers -- Evaluations shift over time -- Towards a new social contract? -- Portraits of desperation -- Resistance is futile -- Return to the past -- The patriotism of despair -- Conclusion: Towards an inclusive prosperity.
Download or read book Income Inequality and Poverty During the Transition from Planned to Market Economy written by Branko Milanovi? and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank Technical Paper No. 394. Joint Forest Management (JFM) has emerged as an important intervention in the management of Indias forest resources. This report sets out an analytical method for examining the costs and benefits of JFM arrangements. Two pilot case studies in which the method was used demonstrate interesting outcomes regarding incentives for various groups to participate. The main objective of this study is to develop a better understanding of the incentives for communities to participate in JFM.
Download or read book Poverty in Transition Economies written by Sandra Hutton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study addresses the experience of, and responses to poverty in a range of transition economies including Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovenia, Uzbekistan, Romania, Albania and Macedonia. It covers topics such as the definition of poverty lines and the measurement of poverty; the role of income-in-kind in supporting families; homelessness and destitution; housing; the design, targeting and administration of welfare; and personal responses to economic transition.
Download or read book Exploring Inequality in Europe written by Martin Heidenreich and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2016-06-24 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Europe has become a dominant frame for the generation, regulation and perception of social inequalities. This trend was solidified by the current economic crisis, which is characterized by increasing inequalities between central and peripheral countries and groups. By analysing the double polarization between winners and losers of the crisis, the segmentation of labour markets and the perceived quality of life in Europe, this book contributes to a better understanding of patterns and dynamics of inequality in an integrated Europe.
Download or read book Continuous Improvement written by Tinatin Baum and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2016-08-25 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Targeted Social Assistance of Georgia is a last-resort social program that is considered a best practice among programs based on proxy means testing (PMT). It achieves high targeting accuracy for a relatively high level of poverty incidence. In 2013, the government of Georgia embarked on the revision of this program to ensure its continued effectiveness and to revise some of the parameters of the eligibility formula that could be subject to manipulation. In particular, the government was concerned about the subjective evaluation of social agents and about concealable goods giving room to abuses in terms of program eligibility. Continuous Improvement: Strengthening Georgia’s Targeted Social Assistance Program assesses the technical work and the policy actions taken by the Georgian government during 2014 and 2015. It covers the full cycle of the reform of a social assistance program, from establishing the objectives to the design of compensation measures that minimize the number of newly ineligible beneficiaries. In particular, it describes the revision of the PMT formula, the introduction of a scheme of benefits that decreases with the score and an associated assistance program for children, the pretesting of the new formula, and the design of compensation measures. The report also includes a chapter with specific recommendations for Georgia to consider in its efforts to improve its system of social protection and labor.
Download or read book Pension Reform and the Development of Pension Systems written by Emily S. Andrews and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Formal pension systems are an important means of reducing poverty among the aged. In recent years, however, pension reform has become a pressing matter, as demographic aging, poor administration, early retirement, and unaffordable benefits have strained pension balances and overall public finances. Pension systems have become a source of macroeconomic instability, a constraint to economic growth, and an ineffective and/or inequitable provider of retirement income."
Download or read book Evaluating a Targeted Social Program when Placement is Decentralized written by Martin Ravallion and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: July 1998 A social program that relies partly on geographic decentralization for placement provides indicators helpful for identifying the program's impact on welfare. An assessment of the welfare gains from a targeted social program can be seriously biased unless it takes proper account of the endogeneity of program participation. Bias comes from two sources of placement endogeneity: the purposive targeting of the geographic areas to receive the program, and the targeting of individual recipients within selected areas. Decentralization of program placement decisions is common, because of the administrative cost of centralized placement decisions and the fact that local groups and governments are likely to be better informed about who most needs help. But full decentralization is uncommon; the center typically retains control of broad geographic targeting. Ravallion and Wodon argue that partial decentralization of program placement decisions creates control and instrumental variables useful for identifying program benefits. The central allocation to a local level of government is presumably based on observable indicators. The central allocation will also influence the allocation to an individual but is unlikely to determine outcomes at the individual level conditional on individual program participation. So with suitable controls for the welfare-relevant geographic characteristics determining program placement decisions, the center's allocation across areas can be used as an instrumental variable for individual participation. The authors use Bangladesh's Food for Education program to illustrate their approach. A single post-intervention cross-sectional household survey was used to identify the impact of the program on school attendance, using geographic placement at the village level as an instrument for individual program placement. To deal with bias from the endogeneity of village selection, the authors used a detailed community survey coordinated with the household survey to control for likely sources of heterogeneity in geographicinfluences on school attendance, consistent with prior information on how the government targeted the program geographically. They found that the programs had significant and sizable impacts on school attendance. At mean points, the program's incentive increased attendance by 24 percent of the maximum feasible days of schooling. A regression estimator ignoring the purposive program placement was found to result in a substantial underestimation of the program's impact. Indeed, the simplest possible control group method-assuming that nonparticipants provide a valid counterfactual-performed much better than a regression method treating placement as exogenous. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to evaluate the impact of social programs. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Policies for Poor Areas (RPO 681-39). Martin Ravallion may be contacted at [email protected].
Download or read book Protecting the Environment and the Poor written by Gunnar S. Eskeland and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Rising China in the Changing World Economy written by Liming Wang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-12 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's rapid and sustained growth over last thirty years has propelled it to become the world's second largest economy today and potentially the largest in the foreseeable future. As one of the first major economies pulling out of recession and the last remaining major socialist country in the world today, China presents a challenge to established thinking on the essential primacy of global capitalism and the settled nature of the world system - as China becomes more integrated into the world economy and the international system, both are themselves potentially transformed as a result of China’s involvement. This book explores a wide range of issues connected with the impact of China on the global economy and the prevailing international system. Subjects covered include China’s multinationals, international acquisitions, the exchange rate, research and development and technology transfer, China’s emerging major business groupings, and small and medium sized enterprises.
Download or read book Privatisation and Development written by Claude V. Chang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book interrogates privatisation in terms of its effectiveness vis-à-vis its stated goals and more fundamentally in terms of its success in delivering economic development. It investigates why privatisation was successful in the UK and other OECD countries and why it has not met with equal success in developing countries. In this regard, it further examines the policy prescriptions of the IMF and World Bank in relation to the conceptualised benefits and theoretical assumptions underlying these supposed benefits. The author assesses the extent to which culture and customs, indeed the mode of production, stand in determinate relationship to the goals, techniques and outcome of the process. Furthermore, Chang examines the degree to which socioeconomic and moral consequences of privatisation have been ignored in pursuit of the ideological imperative implicit in the Washington Consensus. Hence, the book contributes to the reflective thought that must necessarily be part of theory validation, and provides the basis for a balanced and empirically-valid theory of privatisation.
Download or read book Understanding and Measuring Social Capital written by Christiaan Grootaert and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2002 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work details various methods of gauging social capital and provides illustrative case studies from Mali and India. It also offers a measuring instrument, the Social Capital Assessment Tool, that combines quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Download or read book Trade Policies and Incentives in Indian Agriculture written by Garry Pursell and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper describes the methodology for a series of background papers that measure incentives in India's agriculture. The first study on sugarcane and sugar shows that the domestic market has been isolated from world markets by extensive controls, but between 1965 and 1995 there was a significant downward trend in the ratio of domestic to international sugar prices. This paper is the first in a series of studies to provide background data and protection and incentive indicators for 13 major Indian crops, which have been estimated in connection with extensive research on Indian agricultural incentives. The general methodology of the studies is described in the first section of the paper. The second section of the paper focuses on sugarcane and sugar. It shows that between 1965 and 1994 real domestic prices of sugar and cane were quite stable in India, declining an average of 0.6 percent (sugar) and 0.3 percent (cane) a year. During the same 29 years the free market price of sugar fluctuated widely (expressed in Indian rupees) but in real terms increased about 1.3 percent a year. This contrast in trends reflects the real devaluation of the rupee after 1986 but meant that by the early 1990s, at world sugar prices of US 13-15 cents a pound or higher, India's domestic prices were roughly equivalent to, or below, world reference prices. Because of the fluctuations in world free market prices, nominal protection of sugar and sugarcane production in India-as measured by differences between domestic prices and border reference prices-also fluctuated. Nominal protection was: * High during low world prices in the 1960s and the mid-1980s. * Negative when world prices were high in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. * Moderate to low by previous standards between 1989 and 1994. Incentives for cane production did not change much when allowance is made for the nominal protection of tradable inputs (principally fertilizers) or subsidies for the principal nontradable imports (canal irrigation, credit, and electricity for pumpsets). Incentives for cane production were somewhat higher in Uttar Pradesh than in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Half of Indian cane production is used by artisanal producers of gur and small-scale de facto unregulated producers of khandsari sugar. Because of India's complex regulatory system-especially in the important sugar-producing state, Uttar Pradesh-incentives are significantly higher for unregulated activities than for the modern sugar mill sector. Regulations subject sugar mills to controls that require them to: * Sell specific quantities of their sugar production at low levy prices. * Sell molasses production at a fraction (0.1 or less) of open market and border prices. * Pay minimum prices (for specific quantities of cane) at above-free-market prices, except in years of cane shortages. This paper is a product of Trade, Development Research Group. Garry Pursell may be contacted at [email protected].
Download or read book Assisting Russia s Transition written by Gianni Zanini and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This evaluation assesses the development effectiveness of the World Bank's lending and non-lending assistance to the Russian Federation since 1991, a 10-year period of tumultuous political, economic, and social change. This report concludes that an assistance strategy, concentrating on analytical and advisory services with limited financial support for Russia, would have been more appropriate than one involving large volumes of adjustment lending.
Download or read book Calm After the Storms written by Francisco H.G. Ferreira and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the profound political and economic changes of the 1970s and 1980s behind it, and regardless of its trade patterns, Chile's income distribution is, for the moment, calm. Education may be the most important variable affecting the structure of, and changes in, inequality in Chile. After rising in the 1960s, falling in the early 1970s, and rising again from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, income inequality seems to have stabilized in Chile since about 1987. With the stormy period of economic and political reform of the 1970s and 1980s well over, no statistically significant Lorenz dominance results could be detected after 1987. Scalar measures of inequality confirm this picture of stability but suggest a slight change in the shape of the density function-with some compression at the bottom compensated for by a stretching at the top. As inequality remained broadly stable, sustained economic growth led to substantial poverty reduction, according to a range of measures and with respect to three different poverty lines. Poverty mixed stochastic dominance tests confirm this result. All of these findings are robust to different choices of equivalence scales. An examination of the factors underlying these trends suggests that an equilibrium has (for the moment) been reached between rising demand for and supply of skills-the demand for skills associated with technological progress and the supply of skills associated with expansion of education. Chile's trading pattern might well be tangential to its recent distributional dynamics. This paper-a product of the Poverty Reduction Group, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network-is part of a larger effort in the network to understand income distribution dynamics in developing countries. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Poverty and Income Distribution Dynamics in a High Growth Economy: The Case of Chile, 1987-94 (RPO 681-59). Francisco H.G. Ferreira may be contacted at [email protected].
Download or read book Economies in Transition written by Alice Galenson and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Latin American Development Forum promotes debate and disseminates knowledge and analysis on economic and social development issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Institutional Sponsors of this series are the World Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The transition economies of the Europe and Central Asia Region faced unprecedented political, economic, and social change after me break-up of the Soviet Union. With assistance from the World Bank and other donors, many countries quickly accomplished a number of reforms, but progress in others has been slower. Much has been achieved--"the private share of GDP in the transition countries is nearly 70 percent, and 8 countries have joined the EU--"but much remains to be completed.