Poor Poverty : The Impoverishment of Analysis, Measurement and Policies

• Superior document: The United Nations Series on Development
• Author: Chowdhury, Anis.
• TeilnehmendeR: Sundaram, Jomo Kwame.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: The United Nations Series on Development
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (241 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

This book, co-published with the UN's Dept of Economic and Social Affairs, offers a critical appraisal of the conventional measures and analysis of poverty as well as of poverty reduction policies. Despite greater efforts in reducing poverty since the early 1980's, poverty remains stubbornly high in many parts of the world. This collection argues that the mainstream perspectives on poverty and deprivation have contributed to considerable distortion and misunderstanding and that is not unrelated to ineffectual policy prescriptions. In particular it highlights the World Bank's dollar-a-day

Table of Contents

Cover; Contents; List of Tables; List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Contributors; Introduction; Chapter 1: The Terrible Simplifiers: Common Origins of Financial Crises and Persistent Poverty in Economic Theory and the New ''1848 Moment''; Where Economics went Wrong: On Abstraction vs. Simplification; Reconstructing Relevant Economics; Economics Abstracted from Production: The Common Element in Financial Crises and Persistent Poverty; The Challenge: Relearning the Art of Creating Middle-income Countries; The Failure of Neoliberal Development Policy

Increasing Returns and Synergies: Their Creation and their Destruction Conclusion: Towards ''an 1848 Moment'' when Empirical Knowledge Matters Again; References; Notes; Appendix I. Frank Graham's Theory of Uneven Development; Chapter 2: Growth, Development Policy, Job Creation and Poverty Reduction; Macroeconomics and External Shocks; Financial Structures; Economic Structure and Employment; Foreign Aid; Policy Alternatives; Macroeconomic Policies; Structural Transformation Policies; International Environment; Pro-Poor Policy Orientation; References; Notes

Chapter 3: Governance, Growth and Poverty Reduction Measurement Issues; The Arithmetic of Growth, Distribution and Poverty Reduction; Causal Links between Growth, Redistribution and Governance; Growth-Redistribution Causal Linkages; Good Governance as Market-Enhancing Governance; Good Governance and Growth; Good Governance and Distribution; Good Governance and Distribution: Theoretical Linkages; Conclusions and Alternatives; References; Chapter 4: The Emperor's New Suit: Global Poverty Estimates Reappraised; Why Does It Matter?; A Brief History of the Debate

The Bank's Concept of Global Consumption Poverty The Recent Revision; The Choice of the IPL: Is it Reflective of Perceptions in Poor Countries?; Does the Revision of the IPL Raise or Lower It in Countries, and Why Does It Matter?; Are the PPPs Used of the Appropriate Type?; The Substantive Interpretation of the IPL; Is There an Alternative?; The Need for Institutional Reforms; References; Notes; Chapter 5: Poverty Reduction in China and India: Policy Implications of Recent Trends; Differences and Similarities; Poverty Reduction in China; Increasing inequalities; Changes in Poverty Incidence

Indicators of Human Poverty in China Poverty Reduction Strategies in China; Poverty Reduction in India; Income Inequality and Poverty in India; Human Poverty in India; Factors Behind the Poverty Trends in India; Conclusion; References; Notes; Chapter 6: The Bottom of the Pyramid Strategy for Reducing Poverty: A Failed Promise; The Poor as Value-Conscious Consumers; Empirical Evidence; Poverty and Alcohol; Whitening Cream; The Poor as an Attractive Market; The Poor as Entrepreneurs; BOP Proposition Under-Emphasizes the Role of the State; Conclusion; References; Notes

Chapter 7: How Effective is Microfinance as a Poverty Reduction Tool?