Paper short abstract:

This paper uses survey data from the 4 country Young Lives study to examine the links between shame and child poverty and associated impacts on learning.

Paper long abstract:

Shame is increasingly recognised as a core element to the experience of poverty, affecting both adults and children. The ways individuals mitigate feelings of shame and stigma (concealment of problems, withdrawal etc) can undermine engagement within communities and services and so shame induced by poverty further reduce opportunities open to children. The experience of shame and stigma is therefore an important part of the experience of child poverty. This paper tests these links using multi-country young Lives cohort study from Ethiopia, Andhra Pradesh (India), Peru and Vietnam. The paper creates a data driven measure of feelings of shame. A consistent link is found between lower consumption level and higher reported feelings of shame at 12 years old. The paper then identifies that greater feelings of shame at 12 years old were associated with negative impacts on indicators of children's learning at 12 and at 15 years. In short there is a strong rights based rationale for improving dignity in the design of policy. But alongside this the paper produces new evidence highlighting that policy to promote children's schooling is less likely to be effective when stigma and poverty-induced shaming are high.

Paper short abstract:

We examine the responsibility that a person has on her own achievements (well-being) paying attention to mind, inherited attributes that facilitates or constrains social adaptability, and the community in which this person takes decisions. An empirical analysis is based on data from ESS 2014.

Paper long abstract:

A person might modify some of the attributes that she inherited from her parents and her community. Social and cultural capital are one of the attributes that a person inherits (and with effort could be modified) and that facilitates or constraints her adaptability (success) to the society. In this paper we characterize poverty traps that are driven by the inherited social capital: a person does not have the social and cultural capital required to make a change, enhancing her social capital, so that this person acquires greater well-being over time.

The paper examines the person's responsibility on her own achievements, taking into account the structure of mind (mainly driven by social and automatic thinking), the community in which the person takes decisions, and the inherited social and cultural capital. Emphasis is given to disentangle the dynamics of poverty and discrimination as highlighted by the reproduction of the social structure.

We empirically examine responsibility issues using data from European Social Survey 2014. Specifically, we examine the extent by which the education of parents explains healthy behaviour of young adults (14-21 age cohorts). Next, we examine the community and individual determinants of behaviour in adults (22-44 age cohorts). We obtain that parents' education explains young adults' healthy behaviours that are socially accepted, but have no influence on unhealthy (but socially accepted) behaviour such as alcohol consumption. When we focus on adults' behaviour, we obtain that the one's own education replace the influence of parents' education, but not the influence of the community.

Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to analyse the influence that the accumulation of factors outside individual responsibility has in the short and in the long run on individual educational and earning outcomes.

Paper long abstract:

Education is a strong predictor for economic performance. Therefore, educational inequality particularly in opportunity could make significant contribution to earning disparities. Following Ferreira and Gignoux (2014) parametric method, we construct aggregate indices of inequality of educational opportunities for fourteen Indonesian provinces in the years 1997, 2000 and 2007. Our particular and original contribution is to define individual indices of the power of circumstances which measure the strength of the influence that the accumulation of factors outside individual responsibility has in the short and in the long run on individual educational achievements and on earnings. We found that-along the period considered- there has been a declining trend in inequality of educational opportunities but not in all the provinces. Our findings also suggest that parental educational background is the most significant factor for school survival and that the effect that circumstances exert on future individual educational achievements and on early earnings perspectives tend to persist over time, but only to a very small extent. Moreover, our causal model which relates educational budget policy to equality of opportunity shows a negative impact of educational budget for the youngest cohorts, questioning therefore the effectiveness of the allocation of resources to primary and intermediate schools.

Paper short abstract:

Upon the return of the Sandinista party to power in 2007 many rural Nicaraguans believed that their poverty and precariousness would begin to recede, instead it has been reinforced as the new normal.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how a resource-poor country is able to practice a form of governmentality over its citizens through the normalization of poverty. Rooted in a governmentality approach to risk, this paper approaches the application of this disciplinary strategy to the developing world from a critical perspective acknowledging that, in this context, it is only one of many tactics employed by the state to influence populations. As a result, discussions of disciplinary power and development theory also contribute to the theoretical orientation of this paper. Based on eleven months of fieldwork and twelve years of community involvement data collection involved participant observation, semi-structured interviews, informal interviews, house visits, a survey and self-monitoring of daily household expenses.

Drawing on this data, a model for 'Nicaraguan Governmentality' employing the 'normalization of poverty' was developed. This model identifies three primary strategies used by the government to reduce the potential for social unrest among its citizens: social programs, NGOs and private projects, and institutionalized social control disguised as 'direct democracy'. Through the manipulation of economic resources and the governing bodies of local communities, the Nicaraguan government has created an effective method of governance from a distance with the use of minimal resources effectively employing a 'Lean Nation's' version of governmentality. The end result of this strategy is an effective form of social control over the citizenry at the expense of democracy.

Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates multidimensional poverty changes, using the Alkire-Foster framework, in 34 countries and 338 sub-national regions, covering 2.5 billion people. Analysis shows differences between changes in multidimensional and income poverty, and diversity of situations within countries.

Paper long abstract:

This paper sets out a systemic account of multidimensional poverty dynamic using the Alkire-Foster Adjusted Headcount Ratio and its consistent sub-indices. It also scrutinizes three approaches to assessing the pro-poorness of multidimensional poverty reduction. These techniques were then applied to the analysis of changes in multidimensional poverty based on the Global MPI and related destitution measure. The analysis focused on 34 countries and 338 sub-national regions, covering 2.5 billion people, for which there is a recent MPI estimation and comparable Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) dataset for analysis across time. First, it assesses overall changes in poverty and its incidence and intensity, and compares this with changes in $1.25 poverty. Next, utilizing the property of subgroup decomposability, it examines changes in the MPI and its consistent sub-indices over time across urban-rural regions, sub-national regions and ethnic groups. The decomposition analysis identified relevant national patterns, including those in which the pace of poverty reduction is higher for the poorest subgroups. Finally, the paper analyses the dynamics of a strict subset of the poor, who are identified as 'destitute' using a more extreme deprivation cutoff vector, and studies relative rates of reduction of destitution and poverty by country and region. In the course of this extensive empirical analysis, some further research questions emerge.

Paper short abstract:

The way in which poverty is conceptualized and measured shapes perceptions of need in and aid allocation for countries. This paper examines discrepancies between monetary and capabilities approaches to poverty finding the two approaches differ in how they capture poverty and how they inform aid allocation.

Paper long abstract:

This paper informs need assessment and aid allocation by identifying salient dimension of poverty measurement. It does so by comparing the qualities and ramifications of two dominant approaches to poverty: monetary and capabilities. First, the paper looks at whether poverty measurement according to the capability approach (Multidimensional Poverty Index) predicts poverty measurement according to the monetary approach (international or national poverty headcount rate) for 64 developing countries by year. The analysis classifies countries into income poor and capability poor based on the sign and degree of residuals between the two measures . Next, the paper analyzes the position of these countries with respect to these two measures by employing classification tree modeling, finding that the GINI coefficient and being in Europe and Central Asian region are association with the residuals between the two measures. Finally, the analysis examines whether aid composition responds to needs described by the discrepancy between the two approaches, finding that the salient dimension of poverty is not significantly associated with the ratio of social sector aid to economic sector aid within a country and across countries. This study indicates that there are discrepancies between the capability and monetary measures of poverty in developing countries, and that using any single approach may fail to adequately inform aid allocation.

Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates the dynamics of both monetary and multidimensional child poverty, taking advantage of two recently constructed measure of child deprivation in Tanzania and Malawi, and of the longitudinal nature of the underlying data.

Paper long abstract:

How persistent is monetary poverty, compared to deprivation? There is a growing evidence of the fact that monetary and multidimensional poverty are two sides of the same coin: they are strongly correlated, but don't overlap completely. However, there is little evidence on their respective dynamics. Because of its nature and how it is measured, we expect deprivation to be more persistent, over time, than poverty as measured by income or consumption aggregate. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate the dynamics of both monetary poverty and deprivation among children in two sub-Saharan countries. Taking advantage of two recently constructed measure of child deprivation in Tanzania and Malawi, and of the longitudinal nature of the underlying data, this work analyses the changes in monetary and multidimensional poverty. Evidence suggests that the persistence of both indicators is quite similar, and that infrastructures and shocks affect the two measure differently, while household characteristics have a more similar impact.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, an attempt is made to construct an individual-based Multidimensional Poverty Measure for Nicaragua, to assess whether there is a significant gap between male and female multidimensional poverty in this country, and to find out what is driving the gap.

Paper long abstract:

There is a widespread consensus that poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon and its measurement should not be relied exclusively on income or consumption expenditures per capita as the monetary (or traditional) approach does. Since the pioneering works of Kai-yuen Tsui (2002) and François Bourguignon and Satya Chakravarty (2003), a number of multidimensional poverty measures have been put forward, including the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (Global-MPI), but the vast majority of these measures use the household as unit of analysis, which means that they assume equal distribution of resources and externalities within the household and equate poverty status of the household with the poverty status of all the household members. This contrasts, however, with the long-standing literature on intra-household bargaining, with the extensive knowledge of that poverty is experienced differently by men and women, and ignores the different preferences and needs of the household members. Gender equality is, on the other hand, at the center of the post-2015 development agenda. In order to track the progress in achieving this goal, in a proper way, new measures able to capture the gender differences are needed. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt is made to derive this kind of measure. The paper has three goals: (1) to propose a new individual-based Multidimensional Poverty Index for Nicaragua, (2) to assess whether there is a significant gap between male and female multidimensional poverty in this country, and (3) to find out what is driving the gap.

Paper short abstract:

This study examines how contextual factors affect poverty eradication policies across geographic clusters. The findings suggest that the heterogeneous impacts of antipoverty policies depend in part on the energy infrastructure available. Contextual factors matter for poverty eradication.

Paper long abstract:

How much are people in poverty to 'blame' for the results of poverty eradication policies?

Are there intervening factors that may impact the success of such policies? This study addresses these questions by examining how contextual factors impact the effects of a cash transfer program across geographic clusters in Brazil.

Extensive research has been conducted to evaluate the impact of conditional cash transfer programs on human development. The literature shows that, at the national level, such programs have a positive impact on numerous indicators related to health, education and poverty. Less evidence is available on the heterogeneous effects of these programs, beyond urban versus rural variations. I explore the effects of national level policies across geographical clusters and, specifically, how differences in energy infrastructure affect their success.

The results of this study show that the effects of an anti poverty policy vary greatly across geographic clusters and that such differences are due in part to the energy infrastructure. They also show that while energy infrastructure does not appear to affect significantly intermediate outcomes (e.g. school attendance), it is relevant for the ultimate goals of these programs (e.g. health status). These findings suggest that the ability of the population in poverty to benefit from conditional cash transfer programs aimed at poverty eradication vary according to the local infrastructure: while cash transfers may help to change social and consumption patterns, access to energy services is also critical. Poverty eradication requires that both social and energy policies work together.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper I discuss the attributions of responsibility to poor people in two Chilean CCT programmes. The causes of poverty are not relevant and it seems that poor people are not blamed; however, they have the responsibility of solving their detrimental situation, under the rhetoric of co-responsibility.

Paper long abstract:

The present paper examines the attributions of responsibility to poor people in two Chilean Conditional Cash Transfer policies -Solidarity Chile and Family Ethical Income- based on data collected from interviews to policy makers and official documents, as part of my doctoral research. Despite these programmes were designed by different political coalitions, both rely on a characterization of the poor people and a diagnosis about the role of the state, but the causes of poverty situation are not considered nor even discussed. Under their view, the causes of poverty are not relevant, poor people appear not to be blamed for their situation, and are mainly perceived as passive. Yet, the families in poverty must solve their situation, under the rhetoric of co-responsibility. The state is the other responsible one, but if the family's responsibility is similar in both programmes, the state role is different. In Solidarity Chile poor families have to be engaged with the public programmes and benefits, therefore the state is seen as a key provider of welfare and families have to learn how to use those benefits and improve their situation. In Family Ethical Income, the state should teach the poor families how to earn their income autonomously and once they achieve this, state retires from the provision of welfare. Despite the differences, both programmes share an understanding of poverty in which poor families have to overcome the inadequacies (or failings) to engage in the public benefits or labour market.

Paper short abstract:

This study aims to investigate the impact of an unconditional cash transfer program on the dynamics of multidimensional poverty level of rural-urban migrants in Indonesia and factors contributing to the recipients’ movements in and out of poverty.

Paper long abstract:

The government of Indonesia implemented an unconditional cash transfer program called Bantuan Langsung Tunai (BLT) in 2008. The program aims to sustain the consumption of poor households after the rise in fuel and food prices due to the international economic crisis and the government's decision to reduce fuel subsidies.

This study aims to investigate the impact of BLT on the multidimensional poverty dynamics of rural-urban migrants in Indonesia. It also compares the poverty levels of recipients and non-recipients, and examines factors contributing to their movements in and out of poverty. There is limited understanding in how rural-urban migrants progress in cities, especially in terms of their poverty level, and how a government's program as BLT might affect this progress is of particular interest.

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) (Alkire & Foster, 2011) is applied to a longitudinal dataset on rural-urban migrants in Indonesia for four consecutive years from 2008, when the BLT was implemented, to 2011. The dataset used in this study is the survey of Rural-Urban Migration in Indonesia (RUMiI). It was conducted in four major cities to represent four large islands in the country: Tangerang (Java), Medan (Sumatera), Makassar (Sulawesi) and Samarinda (Borneo). The data might not be a nationally representative sample, but these cities have a large number of rural-urban migrants and are able to capture the diversity of the rural-urban migrant experience in Indonesia.

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the relations of shame, blame and working responsibility under Universal Credit and how these contribute to understanding of the nature of recipients and the causes of income poverty.

Paper long abstract:

Coalition government of 2010-2015 focuses on the theme of 'work' in welfare reform. Universal Credit (UC) aims to move out-of-work recipient into employment and make certain amounts of work pay; and to smooth the transition into work. Seeing social liberalism as part of the root causes of social problems, UC, which is based on neo-liberal parternalist approach, is framed by the Coalition government to reduce welfare dependence, to alleviate (nonworking and in-working) poverty by incentivising working responsibility via punitive conditionality and marketisation. The 'work first' approach aims to place recipients in jobs ASAP and rest on the assumption that most recipients are capable of finding work, and advancement and higher wages will come from the experience of working rather than from building skills through education or training. The 'work first' approach, may be not sufficient to help all citizens, who have left welfare, to remain employed in the long term. This paper examines the design and structure of Universal Credit, e.g. single taper rate and new sanction regime, and how these contribute to understanding of the nature of recipients and the causes of income poverty.