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The theoretical connection between decentralization and the representation-cum-efficiency advantage in combating poverty has been questioned by empirical evidence. How decentralization shall be integrated with the intervention from higher-level governments in anti-poverty efforts remains unclear. Drawing on the comparison of India (West Bengal), Mexico, and China, this analysis examines the institutional designs of the poverty alleviation programs across the cases, including the selection of recipients, allocation of fiscal resources, and monitoring, and the political dynamics that generate the designs. Despite differences in the level of poverty and political backgrounds preceding the programs, the key contributors to their success in reducing poverty lie in some common factors, including the strong commitment of the ruling authority to poverty reduction, decentralization in beneficiary identification, and centralized arrangements that reduce elite capture and the power of local brokers. These findings advance our understanding of the endogenous political nature of anti-poverty efforts and the importance of integrating devolution with centralized arrangements in the war against poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the relationship between dowries – wealth transfers from the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage – and individual-level poverty in rural India. Based on the estimates of a collective household model, we show that the share of household consumption expenditure allocated to a woman is strongly associated with the dowry she paid at the time of her marriage. We compute poverty rates separately for women and men and find that women's poverty relative to men decreases with dowry. Moreover, women who paid dowries are less likely to be poor relative to women who did not, even when their households' consumption expenditures are the same. Our counterfactual policy analysis indicates that abolishing or reducing dowries (through anti-dowry laws or taxes, for example) may have the unintended effect of aggravating intra-household inequality and increasing women's risk of living in poverty after marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]