2009年-世界发展银行全球_Handbook_on_Poverty_and_Inequality_446页_4mb

Handbook on Poverty and Inequality Summary

Core Content

The Handbook on Poverty and Inequality is a comprehensive guide that provides tools for measuring, describing, monitoring, evaluating, and analyzing poverty. It is intended for researchers and policy analysts involved in poverty research and policy-making. The handbook was initially developed as training materials and has since expanded into a 16-chapter book that includes explanatory text, examples, multiple-choice questions, and practical exercises using Stata statistical software.

The book is designed for individuals with a university-level background in science or social sciences and treats the material at a Master's degree level, emphasizing intuitive explanations and practical applications. It aims to equip readers with the skills necessary to conduct poverty analysis and understand the implications of poverty and inequality for policy design and implementation.

Main Views of Poverty

1. Monetary Deprivation: Poverty is defined as a lack of income or consumption relative to an adequate minimum threshold. This is the most conventional approach.
2. Specific Consumption Deprivation: Poverty may be tied to the lack of access to certain essential goods, such as food, shelter, health, or education.
3. Capability Deprivation: The broadest approach focuses on the individual's ability to function in society. Poor people often lack key capabilities such as education, health, political freedom, or a sense of empowerment.
4. Vulnerability to Poverty: This involves assessing the risk of falling into poverty, not just current poverty status.

Key Reasons to Measure Poverty

• To keep poor people on the agenda.
• To identify poor people and target appropriate interventions.
• To monitor and evaluate projects and policies aimed at the poor.
• To assess the effectiveness of institutions designed to help the poor.

Role of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)

The World Bank promotes the PRSP process to help countries systematically address poverty reduction. This process requires countries to measure and analyze domestic poverty, identify actions to reduce it, and operationalize these actions. The handbook aims to provide the technical and analytical skills needed to support this process.

Main Chapters and Topics

• Measuring Poverty: Discusses methods for measuring poverty, including household surveys, choice of welfare indicators, and poverty lines.
• Poverty Lines: Explores both objective and subjective poverty lines, including their construction and application.
• Measures of Poverty: Reviews various poverty indices such as the headcount index, poverty gap index, and Sen index.
• Inequality Measures: Analyzes common inequality measures like the Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, and decomposition techniques.
• Poverty Profiles: Introduces poverty profiles as a tool to describe and compare poverty across different dimensions and groups.
• Determinants of Poverty: Examines household and individual characteristics that contribute to poverty and uses regression techniques to analyze these determinants.
• Poverty Reduction Policies: Explores the impact of growth on poverty, pro-poor growth strategies, and case studies such as Tanzania.
• International Poverty Comparisons: Discusses the use of purchasing power parity (PPP) and the challenges of comparing poverty across countries.
• Poverty over Time: Analyzes poverty trends using panel surveys and discusses chronic, persistent, and transient poverty.
• Vulnerability to Poverty: Introduces the concept of vulnerability and how it can be measured and managed.
• Poverty Monitoring and Evaluation: Covers methods for tracking poverty and evaluating the impact of interventions.
• Using Regression: Explains regression analysis, including logistic regression, and its application in poverty studies.
• Taxation and Spending: Analyzes how taxation and government spending affect poverty and inequality, with case studies from various countries.

Key Contributions and Authors

• Jonathan Haughton is a professor of economics at Suffolk University and a senior economist at the Beacon Hill Institute. He has extensive experience in poverty research and policy analysis, with contributions to numerous studies and reports.
• Shahidur R. Khandker is a lead economist in the World Bank's Development Research Group. He has authored many articles and books on poverty, microfinance, and development economics, and has worked in over 30 countries.

Key Technical Concepts and Tools

• Household Surveys: Essential for collecting data on income, consumption, and well-being.
• Poverty Lines: Defined using either objective (e.g., cost of basic needs) or subjective (self-rated poverty) methods.
• Poverty Indices: Include headcount index, poverty gap index, and squared poverty gap index.
• Inequality Measures: Cover the Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, and decomposition techniques.
• Stata Exercises: Practical applications to reinforce learning and provide hands-on experience.
• International Comparisons: Use of PPP and national accounts data to compare poverty across countries.

Conclusion

This handbook serves as a valuable resource for understanding and analyzing poverty and inequality, providing both theoretical foundations and practical tools. It emphasizes the importance of systematic analysis, robust measurement, and the application of advanced statistical techniques in poverty research. The goal is to increase the capacity for poverty analysis globally, supporting informed policy-making and development strategies.

Key Information and Statistics

• ISBN: 978-0-8213-7613-3 (print), 978-0-8213-7614-0 (e-book)
• DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-7613-3
• Countries Mentioned: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, and others.
• Key Concepts: Well-being, poverty lines, poverty indices, inequality measures, vulnerability, and pro-poor growth.
• Tools and Techniques: Household surveys, regression analysis, decomposition methods, and Stata software.

Appendices and Additional Resources

• Appendix 1: Data introduction, providing an overview of data sources and structure.
• Appendix 2: Stata preliminary, offering guidance on using the software for poverty analysis.
• Appendix 3: Exercises to practice the concepts discussed in the handbook.
• Boxes and Figures: Provide illustrative examples and visual representations of key concepts, such as poverty lines, inequality measures, and regression models.
• Tables: Include detailed data on poverty rates, inequality metrics, and case studies from various countries.

Final Note

The handbook is a product of the World Bank and has been used in training courses globally, including in-person, online, and distance learning formats. It is continually updated based on feedback and new research, aiming to be a dynamic and accessible resource for poverty analysts and policymakers.