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Poverty is one of government's problems in West Java Province that should be suppressed even abolished considering its violates human rights to live in prosperity. In September 2019, number of Poor People reaches 3.38 million people (6.82 percent). Thus, the results of this paper expected could help government in overcome poverty problem in West Java Province by finding the best regression method and model to predict number of poor people and find the most influential predictor that affects the number of poor people in West Java Province. We used secondary datas in 2019 from BPS Jawa Barat with four predictor: Province Minimum Wage (UMP), Human Development Index (IPM), Open Unemployment Rate (TPT), and Number of House Hold (RumahTangga) and one respon variable: Number of Poor People in West Java. The conclusion of this paper are: overdispersion could be overcome and modelled better using Negative Binomial, and the significant variables (which means have impact for response variable) in this case are only two predictor: Human Development Index (IPM) and Number of House Hold (RumahTangga). Human Development Index (IPM) is the most impactable predictor that government should build up to decrease Number of Poor People, while Number of House Hold (RumahTangga) does not have a really big impact but if it get depress would decrease Number of Poor People in West Java. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contends that the covid-19 pandemic has reconfigured how cities manage urban marginality within Zimbabwe. The pandemic enabled cities to push everyday mundane practices away from the centre of the city to the margins of the cities through securitisation and criminalising informal activities within the centre. The paper's methodological underpinnings are hinged on a six month ethnography within Bulawayo (Zimbabwe's second largest city). The paper maintains the view that managing urban marginality in the context of covid-19 must be framed within the binary of two opposing forces – governing institutions (the government and municipality) and the low-income residents. Using covid-19 as a pretext of "curbing the pandemic" governing institutions have pushed informal economic activities from the centre through employing law and force; on the other hand low-income residents have found eclectic means to counteract the measures imposed to constrain their agency. Finally, the paper suggests that covid-19 has reconfigured how cities manage urban marginality through pushing everyday informal practices to the periphery and how the low-income residents deploy their agency to counteract confinement hence managing urban marginality can be understood as a two-way process involving governing institutions and the low-income residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas encompass essential social functions that are fundamental for the development and quality of life. This research explores why the concept of the 15-minute city, while commendable in its aspirations, might fall short in effectively mitigating urban inequalities, especially within densely populated and segregated developing cities. Using Bogotá (Colombia) as a case study, this paper advocates and develops a standardized index based on the availability of essential urban functions within a 15-minute walking distance. This index also integrates individual preferences, geographical attributes, and the quality of pedestrian infrastructure. Doing so provides a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing proximity, accommodating the diverse needs of various social identities. Considering individual preferences towards proximity is critical to comprehend the determinants of accessibility, encompassing the relevance of sociodemographic characteristics. Although several urban areas worldwide may meet the broad interpretation of the 15-minute city concept, our research reveals significant disparities among population segments regarding access to urban services and their prioritization. Our case study found that grocery stores and healthcare facilities hold paramount importance across all population segments. Furthermore, wealthy segments exhibit a heightened preference for retail shops and commercial services. In contrast, the low-income population has a considerably greater preference for healthcare facilities. This study aims to cast light upon structural disparities inherent in urban areas, thereby unveiling inequalities in the 15-minute city concept's capacity to diagnose and mitigate urban inequalities. The promotion of a more all-encompassing and inclusive measurement approach is posited as a contribution to the advancement of our comprehension and the effective implementation of the 15-minute city concept across heterogeneous urban landscapes. • This paper advocates for the development of a standardized index based on urban functions within a 15-minute walking distance. • The 15-minute city concept must include, besides proximity to opportunities, the quality of pedestrian infrastructure. • The index integrates individual preferences to understand the determinants of proximity, including sociodemographic attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Contrary to the pro-poor and egalitarian marketing of cryptocurrencies, the materialities of Bitcoin adoption are uneven. • On El Salvador's coast, Bitcoin development and aid schemes undermine local identity, land and resource access, and power. • Bitcoin enables territorial, resource, and political control by new alliances of crypto-vested state and foreign actors. • The paper warns of the extractive and neocolonial implications of crypto-driven development and aid in the Global South. On September 7th, 2021, El Salvador became the first nation in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, opening up its rapidly developing coast to a new form of crypto tourism and investment. Given the potential access it provides to those outside the traditional banking system, Bitcoin proponents – most notably Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele – have touted the ability of Bitcoin to promote "economic freedom," poverty alleviation, and development in the country. In the rural coastal community of El Zonte, Bitcoin has been pioneered as a tool for everyday transactions and social programs targeting the town's majority poor population. As Bitcoin enthusiasts have flocked to El Zonte, inspired by the imaginary of a Bitcoin-friendly paradise, these mostly White crypto tourists from the Global North have bought up land, patronized exclusive hotels and resorts, and rebranded the town as "Bitcoin Beach." Drawing on the case study of El Zonte, this article unpacks the material implications and contradictions of Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador. I argue that while Bitcoin has created some opportunities for small-scale aid and the business sector, these benefits are limited and largely undermined by the uneven and neocolonial impacts of crypto on local people, land and resources, and power. Situating the findings from El Zonte within a broader discursive and political analysis of Bitcoin legalization in El Salvador, the paper warns of the ways in which crypto facilitates novel forms of territorial, resource, and political control, while reproducing many of the uneven dynamics of neoliberal economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The western coast of El Salvador has seen rapid tourism development over the last decade, the impacts of which have been highly uneven. • Drawing evidence from a high-profile case study site, the research analyzes development-driven reconfigurations in livelihoods, land and resource access, and the securitization of space, which reproduce socio-spatial inequalities. • These uneven impacts tend to benefit and protect foreign and elite interests, while compounding social-environmental insecurities for poor rural residents. • Based on these findings, the paper explores the implications of tourism development for security, migration, and sustainability in El Salvador and other Global South destinations. Over the last ten years, El Salvador has emerged as a popular coastal tourist destination known for its beautiful beaches and world-renowned surf. Riding this wave, the government, international donors, and investors have championed tourism as a strategy to alleviate poverty, promote sustainable development, and address the country's long-standing migration and security crises. Yet, while tourism has brought novel economic opportunities to coastal communities, it has also increased pressures on local people, land, and resources, as well as complicated gang-state security dynamics in complex ways. This paper contributes to geographic scholarship on tourism in the Global South by examining the uneven social and environmental impacts of tourism development on rural coastal communities in El Salvador. I use a mix of ethnographic and survey methods to analyze socio-spatial reconfigurations in livelihoods, land and resource access, and the securitization of space in a case study site from the country's rapidly touristifying western coast. The results find that inequalities are produced through development-driven processes of socioeconomic and resource stratification between mostly affluent, White foreigners and domestic elites and poor Salvadoran residents. The benefits of job growth in tourism-related sectors are largely undermined by the loss of access to land, economic power, and community identity through the foreignization of space. These impacts are compounded by uneven geographies of securitization, which protect wealthy tourist spaces while exposing poor rural residents to both gang and state-sponsored violence. Advancing a critical framing of tourism (in)securities, the paper argues that rather than promoting sustainable development, tourism contributes to the in security and un sustainability of life for many poor rural residents, reinforcing rather than reducing incentives to migrate. By highlighting the socio-spatial production of inequalities in the context of tourism, the research calls for policies ensuring more just and inclusive tourism development in El Salvador and other Global South destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the general political efforts to normalise bicycle use in cities, empirical evidence indicates that cycling investments tend to prioritise central and wealthy neighbourhoods rather than economically disadvantaged and peripheral areas. Among the potential causes, scholars claim that the lack of awareness about the social impacts of cycling and the general absence of equity-oriented appraisal methods during planning and decision-making processes may perpetuate the uneven distribution of bicycle-related investments. In response, this paper introduces a novel planning support tool for assessing the relative equity impact of bicycle planning (TIRE), which provides a micro-scale spatial assessment of the effects of cycling network allocation on the accessibility levels of distinct socioeconomic groups, allowing a vertical equity assessment with high spatial detail. In order to apply the tool to a real-case scenario, the cycling strategy under implementation in Lisbon, Portugal, was assessed as a testbed. The results were presented to local planning practitioners in an experiential workshop, enabling participants to define strategies supported by the tool and evaluate its user-friendliness and usefulness for planning practice. TIRE revealed hotspots in the city where the cycling network distribution is equitable and areas where disadvantaged representatives have levels of accessibility below the municipality average, thus requiring special attention during the bicycle planning process. In addition, the tool supported local planning practitioners in identifying target areas and equity-oriented strategies, increasing awareness about the equity impacts of cycling infrastructure allocation. • The inner city has higher levels of accessibility than the outskirts. • Disadvantaged groups have less access to opportunities than advantaged ones. • The tool increased planners' awareness of an equity-oriented planning paradigm. • The tool supported planning practitioners in developing new strategies. • Planners positively evaluated the tool in all dimensions of experienced usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses severe systemic risks to the financial sector through multiple transmission channels. In this paper, we estimate the potential impact of different carbon taxes (€50, €100, €200 and €800 per ton of CO2) on the Italian banks' default rates at the sector level in the short term using a counterfactual analysis. We build on the micro-founded climate stress test approach proposed by Faiella et al. (2022), which estimates the energy demand of Italian firms using granular data and simulates the effects of the alternative taxes on the share of financially vulnerable agents (and their debt). Credit risks stemming from the introduction of a carbon tax - during periods of low default rates - are modest for banks: on average, over a one-year horizon, the default rates of firms increase but remain below their historical averages. The effect is heterogeneous across different sectors and rises with the tax value; however, even assuming a tax of €800 per ton of CO2, the default rates are below their historical peaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the everyday mobilities of low-income populations during the Covid-19 pandemic through a mixed-methods study in İstanbul. It shows how additional economic burdens brought by the Covid-19 pandemic interplay with low-income residents' attitudes towards using different transport modes, mobility levels, and concerns over public transport use based on socioeconomic and demographic differences. It suggests that household structures, social networks and perceived mobility restrictions tend to be associated with mobility patterns and practices. The paper argues that changes and continuities in mobility trends and practices due to the pandemic should be considered with broader social and economic dynamics at the household and community level. It draws key lessons learned concerning the pandemic mobilities to be transferred to future transport policy and mobility governance so that intragenerational inequalities could be mainstreamed in these policy domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The study provides a new conceptual framework to account for pro-poor economic development. • This is achieved by extending political settlements analysis with a critical investigation of growth–poverty linkages. • We apply this framework to the recent trajectories of Laos and Rwanda. • We show to what extent Laos and Rwanda have implemented pro-poor development strategies and how they have done so. • This is the first comparative study of the political economy of Laos and Rwanda. Political settlements analysis is a framework that helps us understand different development trajectories. While it has been used to study the politics of pro-poor growth, there has been little explicit engagement with the economic mechanisms that may alleviate or reproduce poverty. This article extends the political settlements approach to that effect and presents a new, integrated framework to account for pro-poor economic development by conceptualizing political conditions as well as key mechanisms – employment and social provision – linking growth and poverty. This framework is empirically applied to scrutinize two recent development 'success stories', those of Laos and Rwanda. Both countries have emerged from a violent past to record over two decades of fast economic growth. The paper assesses how they have done so and to what extent their development strategies have been pro-poor. We demonstrate that the combination of economic growth and of centralized and ideologically committed ruling coalitions has enabled large-scale investments in social service provision that have spearheaded significant reductions in multidimensional poverty in Laos and Rwanda. Moreover, key governance capabilities have enabled both countries to achieve a certain degree of structural change. Yet, this change has been misdirected to extractive industries and hydropower (Laos) and high-end services (Rwanda) with weak employment and limited forward and backward linkages, compounded by a relative lack of productivity growth in the historically more relevant agricultural and manufacturing sectors. This has intensified land pressures and vulnerability, leading to increased inequality in Laos and sustaining already high levels of inequality in Rwanda. Using the ambitious conception of pro-poor development that underpins our integrated framework, we problematize these growth trajectories and argue that neither of them has been pro-poor. We recommend that researchers advance political settlements analysis to examine and strengthen the possibilities for social justice-oriented and bottom-up pro-poor development strategies more systematically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines the effect of financial inclusion on roof quality among Chilean slums. • Utilizes satellite data to provide a method for assessing permanent materials among slum roofs. • Presents empirical evidence indicating a reduction in transaction costs as a relevant benefit resulting from financial inclusion for families residing in slums. • Identifies a positive effect of financial inclusion on roof quality among Chilean slums. • Provides evidence supporting entrepreneurship activities as a potential transmission channel through which financial inclusion affects slum-roof quality. Although not all residents of slums are necessarily poor, and conversely, not all low-income individuals live in slums, housing precarity is a distinctive feature of these communities. This paper examines the relationship between financial inclusion and roof quality improvements for individuals living in slum settlements in Chile. We use satellite images to measure the quality of dwelling roofs as well as the CajaVecina initiative to measure the level of financial inclusion of the families that live there. Our results reveal that a higher level of financial inclusion results in an expanded presence of permanent-material roofs within slums. Moreover, we provide evidence that financial inclusion encourages self-employment activities among low-income individuals which is evidence of a transmission channel for the effect studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Hybrid reservation strategy, including first-reserved-first-served and auction reservation strategies. • Constructing an expected social cost minimization model and deriving the optimal parking quota for parking reservation platform. • Analysis the effects of resident time value, public transport service quality, road service quality, car park service quality, and parking space ratio on the optimal parking quota. • Quantifying vertical equity in parking reservation. Parking reservation, as an on-demand mobility service, can effectively address parking challenges. This paper examines the efficiency and equity of three parking reservation strategies: first-reserved-first-served (FRFS), auction and a hybrid strategy that combines both FRFS and auction. In the hybrid strategy, residents are given priority to make auction reservations initially, while the remaining spaces are allocated through FRFS reservations. Ultimately, a proportional allocation of spaces is achieved for both FRFS and auctions. Expected social cost minimization models are developed to determine the optimal parking quota for these strategies (FRFS, Auction and the hybrid strategy) and the optimal proportion allocated to the FRFS and auction in the hybrid strategy. Based on these works above, the solution properties of the proposed models are analytically explored. In addition, the Gini coefficient is used to investigate the equity of the above three reservation strategies. It is found that the auction strategy is the most efficient, but also the least fair. FRFS is the fairest but also the least efficient, and the hybrid is in the middle. The optimal parking quota increases with the value of time, the quality of road and parking services, but decreases with the quality of public transport services. In the hybrid strategy, increasing the allocation proportion to FRFS may lead to an increased or a decreased expected social cost, depending on the bidding price and FRFS price of parking spaces. The auction strategy is not always the most efficient for allocating parking spaces. In fact, it will become the worst strategy when the parking quota exceeds a certain critical value. Raising the lower bound of residents' incomes would narrow the gap between rich and poor, increase parking quotas, and generate higher parking revenues. The FRFS is more attractive to low-income residents, while the auction strategy favors higher-income residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Plain life stories can unpack complex histories of infrastructure in Southern cities. • Provides historical accounts of how formal/informal infrastructure systems interact. • Infrastructure is shown to emerge as part of situated everyday relations. • Oral history provides an important method to understand heterogenous infrastructure. Building on interviews with elderly people living in a low-income and auto-constructed settlement in Kampala, Uganda, this paper explores the notion of heterogenous infrastructure in its local spatial and temporal setting. Our aim is twofold. First, by intently listening to and weaving together situated narratives of how people over time have acquired infrastructural services, such as water, energy, waste, and sanitation, we reveal deeper insights of the socio-political, but also material structures and interactions at play between the State, the disenfranchised, and their intermediaries. Second, we start uncovering the so far largely unexplored potential of oral history as a method to meaningfully interpret the "infrastructural past" of postcolonial and Southern cities where most of ordinary people's experience was never put on record. Our findings point to the usefulness of oral history methods to widen the lens of who and what contributed to the production of fundamental resources for urban life—and its politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the dynamics of energy poverty in Ghana using two nationwide cross-sectional datasets (Ghana Living Standards Surveys Round 5 and Round 6). Employing the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) as a measure of energy poverty, this paper estimates that the share of energy poor people decreased from 88.4% in 2005/2006 to 82.5% in 2012/2013. The results indicate that although there has been a significant decline in the overall energy poverty in Ghana during the study periods, the incidence of energy poverty remains high. Moreover, the study findings show a large gap between urban and rural energy poverty over the two periods; rural people are almost twice as energy poor as urban people. These findings suggest the need for the incorporation of energy poverty reduction strategies into income poverty reduction strategies to help improve not only access to modern energy but also in terms of affordability. • There is a gradual transition from the use of traditional cooking energy sources to modern sources. • Overall energy poverty in Ghana has significantly reduced but incidence of energy poverty continues to be very high. • Rural people are almost twice as energy poor as urban people. • The goal of reducing energy poverty can be incorporated into income poverty reduction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Given the significance of the residential sector in terms of energy consumption, a comprehensive understanding of households’ energy consumption patterns and choices is imperative. This paper focuses on analysing and understanding the South African residential sector's energy characteristics considering their energy-use profile, and other characteristics such as their geographical distribution and demographic characteristics. The findings show that despite poorer households who are connected to the national grid receiving 50 kW/h of free electricity per month to help them cover their basis energy needs, South African households – particularly low-income households – still use various sources of energy including wood and paraffin to satisfy their basic energy requirements. Solid fuels are predominantly used in rural areas where around 75% of non-electrified households rely on solid fuels for cooking, heating and lighting. Low-income South African households consume between 5% and 10% of their total energy in lighting; space heating and cooking account for the remainder 85–90% of their total energy consumption. After evaluating the relevant data regarding households’ access to electricity, the type of energy used by households and households’ expenditure on electricity and energy in South Africa from the NIDS dataset; it was concluded, that electricity access is reasonably high across South African households. Additionally, an increasing trend can be observed in their total expenditure on electricity. However, approximately 70% of households still spend on other energy sources. Highlights • This paper evaluates the evolution and characteristics of energy consumption in the South African residential sector. • Emphasis was given to the behaviour of households in using energy for cooking, lighting and heating. • Around 70% of low-income households rely on sources of energy other than electricity to satisfy their basic energy needs. • Around 10% of low-income households are energy poor and cannot afford using electricity to cover their basic energy needs. • Results from the NIDS dataset indicated that electricity access is reasonably high across South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Survey respondents are more generous towards poor people whom they perceive to be hard-working, a phenomenon labeled as "sympathy for the diligent". • Respondents exhibiting higher "sympathy for the diligent" have stronger preference towards workfare programs. • In a model of income redistribution, a benevolent government with merit-based fairness concerns implements workfare as a screening mechanism. • In equilibrium, workfare reduces the aggregate level of effort. Abstract We study the role of fairness concerns in the demand for redistribution through workfare. In the first part of the paper, we present new evidence from a survey. We show that individuals are more generous towards poor people whom they perceive to be diligent workers relative to poor people whom they perceive to be non-diligent, a social preference that we label sympathy for the diligent. This preference is much stronger than preferences regarding other characteristics of the poor, such as race, nationality, and disability. More important, we show that subjects with higher sympathy for the diligent have a stronger preference for workfare programs. In the second part of the paper, we incorporate our empirical findings into a model of income redistribution. We consider the case of a benevolent government with fairness concerns that prioritizes the well-being of individuals who exert the most effort. We characterize the optimal conditions under which the government introduces work requirements. Even if wasteful, work requirements can be optimal, because they allow for a better distinction between individuals who exert great effort and individuals who do not. However, if the government lacks commitment power, the availability of screening through work requirements leads to a lower equilibrium effort and, possibly, a Pareto-dominated allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The suburbanization of poverty has been a concerning trend in many urban regions. While research has described patterns of suburbanization of poverty at regional and neighbourhood levels, there are open questions about how lower-income households have agglomerated in the suburbs in recent history. Is suburban poverty primarily a result of 1) the movement of low-income residents from central to suburban neighbourhoods (e.g., via processes of gentrification and displacement), 2) migration between Census Metropolitan Areas and the immigration of low-income groups to suburbs, or 3) becoming and remaining poor while staying in the suburbs? The objective of this paper is to describe and quantify the propensity of these predominant individual geographic pathways to suburban poverty. We do so via a cluster analysis of census and land use data to define neighbourhoods as either central or suburban, and then link this categorization to a large-scale panel dataset representing 20 % of tax filers in Canada (from 2006 to 2016). These data allow for analyzing different pathways within the context of large Canadian metropolitan areas, specifically to what extent poverty in suburban neighbourhoods stems from intra-urban residential mobility, immigration, and becoming poor in-place. We find that becoming and remaining poor while staying in the suburbs encompasses a greater proportion of suburban poverty than immigration and centre-to-suburb residential mobility combined. Overall, this research expands our understanding of the sources of suburban poverty while also providing pertinent information to aid preventative policy aimed at reducing suburban poverty in Canada. • The largest source of suburban poverty in Canada is from getting poor in place. • Immigrants to Canada face the highest risk of becoming part of the suburban poor. • Migration from more accessible parts of the city represents a small share of suburban poverty growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses an important issue related to nighttime commuting of low-income shift workers who walk and/or bike to their workplace using public transit. A shift worker is anyone who follows a work schedule that is outside of the typical daytime working hours of a business day and commute after dark - by walking or bicycling to a transit stop. However, poor visibility conditions on sidewalks and bicycle lanes often thwart safety of their walking and bicycling activities. Therefore, this paper develops two simple scores - nighttime accessibility score for walking (NASW) and nighttime accessibility for bicycling (NASB) - for evaluating nighttime infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclist. The scores consider the employment data, travel time and the physical distribution of streetlight poles along the sidewalks and bicycle lanes. Data from the city of El Paso in Texas is used to demonstrate the applicability of the two scores. Employment data from three prominent service industry sectors known to employ low-income shift workers – i) Retail Trade, ii) Accommodation and Food Services, and iii) Health Care and Social Assistance – are used for demonstration purposes. It is observed that amongst the three sectors analyzed, both NASW and NASB values are higher for regions in El Paso with low-income employment concentrations from the Health Care and Social Assistance sector. It is also observed that some prominent regions in north-east, south-east and west of El Paso need improvements in streetlight systems, sidewalks and bicycle network to facilitate walking and bicycling amongst low-income shift workers employed in Retail Trade, and Accommodation and Food Services industry sectors to access transit stops at night. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The white cane is the most common and widely used travel aid for the blind and its cost is not too much and many government hospitals provide for free to needy and poor people. • It's a great tool which helps blind people in detecting uneven surfaces, obstacles on ground, steps, holes and other hazard. • And which may lead to accidents. • The service animals (such as dogs, birds, miniature horses etc.) are good at dealing these types of situations but they are not easy to train and are very expensive. The white cane is the most common and widely used travel aid for the blind. Its cost is not too high and many government hospitals provide it for free to needy and poor people. It is a great tool that helps blind people detect uneven surfaces, obstacles on the ground, steps, holes, and other hazards. However, it has a major drawback in detecting obstacles that are beyond the range of the white cane, especially when the object is in motion. For example, when a blind person crosses the road, they may not be able to detect a car or person coming from either side (left and right), and it is not much help to the user when navigating through crowded places, which can lead to accidents. Service animals (such as dogs, birds, and miniature horses) are good at handling these types of situations, but they are not easy to train and are very expensive. This paper takes references from many papers and proposes a collision detection and prevention system made of integration of many technologies including image processing, cloud computing, machine learning, IoT and audio production devices, with better option for the blind people for navigating through roads and crowded places and using it along with white cane will make it more effective and will be able to cover some drawbacks of the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper addresses one of the major challenges in rural livelihood analysis to quantitatively examine the dynamics of household livelihood strategies. It investigates the interactions between livelihood assets, activities, and outcomes, and captures the dynamics of long-term changes and their underlying factors. The study aims to identify the classification of rural livelihood strategies, their transitions and factors influencing these processes and changes. We employ the dynamic livelihood strategy framework, and use panel data for 2008 and 2012 covering 464 households in 15 villages in Cambodia, for latent class cluster analysis and regression estimation. In this paper, livelihood strategies are quantified based on allocation of available resources, which overcomes the limitations of income-based analysis. Our study identifies five household livelihood strategies pursued in the study areas, and the results show that over 70% of households change livelihood strategies over time in response to evolving pressures, incentives and opportunities. The study identifies covariates that shape the choices of livelihood strategies and affects the households’ access to more remunerative strategies, such as education, ownership of physical assets, and access to infrastructure. These findings suggest policy implications for improving the range of livelihood choices available to lower income groups to move out of poverty trap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper sets out a systemic account of intertemporal changes in multidimensional poverty using the Alkire–Foster Adjusted Headcount Ratio and its consistent sub-indices. It uses three techniques to assess the pro-poorness of multidimensional poverty reduction. The analysis of changes in multidimensional poverty draws on the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and related destitution measure in 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 across time. First, it assesses overall changes in poverty and its incidence and intensity, and compares this with changes in $1.90 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 identifies relevant national patterns, including those in which the pace of poverty reduction is higher for the poorest subgroups. Finally, the paper analyzes 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. This extensive empirical analysis illustrates how to assess the extent and patterns of reduction of multidimensional poverty, as well as whether it is inclusive or whether some people or groups are left behind. Naturally, some further research questions emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Compared to the extensive literature on measurement of poverty, the question of how the poor are distributed regionally has received less attention. This paper fills the gap in the literature by providing a conceptual framework to measure inequality in the distribution of the poor. A poverty segregation curve is used to compare a region’s share of the poor population with its share in the overall population. A unique contribution of the paper is formulating a generalized version of the poverty segregation curve. Unlike the segregation curve, the generalized segregation curve also takes average poverty rates into account while ranking distributions. Thus the generalized segregation curve may rank a distribution with substantially lower poverty rates above a distribution with higher poverty rates, when differences between their segregation curves are relatively small. The segregation curves are used to analyze changes in the distribution of the poor in India since the economic reforms in the early 1990s. Poverty rates and shares among all states, territories, and districts in India are estimated using data from the National Sample Survey Organization in 1994, 2004, and 2010. In the decades following the reforms India witnessed high growth rates and declining poverty rates. Despite the reduction in poverty, our analysis is the first to reveal that there was a significant rise in segregation of the poor over time. Some states had disproportionately high share of the poor compared to their share in the total population. Within states, the extent of segregation was lower among some of the poorest states and higher in less poor states. The generalized segregation curves show that the substantial decline in poverty rates since the reforms was not adequate to compensate the rise in segregation of the poor. Increase in segregation was also evident when the poor are identified as those who lacked education, health, and access to basic services. Reducing the segregation of the poor is important if India is to attain regionally balanced economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The study investigates the influence of urban renewal on segregation patterns. • The strength of spatial segregation varies at different scales. • Urban renewal reduces localized patterns of spatial segregation. • Urban renewal breaks down segregation between inside and outside SEZ. Increasing residential segregation is emerging as a hindrance to urban sustainability. Urban renewal projects that claim alignment with sustainable development goals still lack comprehensive studies of their impact on social segregation, as evidenced by the ongoing scholarly debate over whether urban renewal has a positive or negative effect on social segregation. This paper explores the dynamics of urban spatial segregation, analyzes the role of urban renewal on segregation, and bridges the gap in existing research by considering dynamic changes, multiple spatial scales, and diverse renewal types. Using multi-source data – house price data, planning permit data and points of interest –stepwise regression models are combined with t-test methods to examine the impact of multiple types of urban renewal on local and regional residential segregation in Shenzhen. Our findings are as follows: 1) Income-based segregation in Shenzhen increased from 0.77 to 0.81 across neighborhoods, from 0.62 to 0.73 across sub-districts, and from 0.58 to 0.67 across districts between 2000 and 2020, therefore increasing at all scales but with more pronounced growth of segregation observed between units at larger scales; 2) Urban renewal can lead to greater income similarity amongst residents of a sub-district, by attracting more high-income people to move in, but this can lead to increased residential segregation of high- and low-income people at the macro-scale. 3) When assessing the impact of urban renewal on segregation, it is recommended to consider the variations in outcomes resulting from temporal changes, spatial scales, the types of renewal, the types of segregation, and the stages of urbanization. Understanding this process can help promote socially sustainable urban renewal projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telehealth can be a viable option for improving equitable access to early motor assessment for financially vulnerable individuals. This review aimed to identify the psychometric properties of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) when applied via telehealth and assess its feasibility. Papers were systematically retrieved from electronic databases until October 4, 2023. We included studies that assessed the motor development of infants using the AIMS through telehealth. Thirteen studies, encompassing 897 infants (449 male and 396 female), were included in this review. Among them, 805 were typical infants and 92 were at risk of motor delay. The age range of participants spanned from 4.9 weeks to 20 months. The studies found good concurrent validity between telehealth and in-person assessments (ICC > 0.98, SEM < 1.6, mean difference = 0.5) and good to excellent reliability (ICC > 0.80) using home videos recorded by parents or video calls with researchers. Telehealth was perceived as feasible by parents, who expressed high satisfaction, and the quality of images and assessments met commendable standards. Considering the limited number of studies that have assessed infants with neuromotor disorders, this scale has the potential for telehealth application in evaluating typical infants. • We verified the psychometric properties of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale applied by telehealth. • Three studies found convergent validity for synchronous/asynchronous and in-person application of the AIMS in typical infants. • The AIMS applied by telehealth was feasible, as perceived by the parents. • Telehealth using the AIMS has the potential to be applied in typical infants. • Further investigation is required to use the AIMS by telehealth in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We evaluate determinants of participation in conservancy land leases in the Maasai Mara and how they impact household wealth. • Land ownership primarily determines who can participate and benefit from conservancies and by how much. • Conservancy land leases reinforce unequal historical land distribution systems, limiting participation of women and the poor. • After matching households on their observed characteristics, conservancy participation has little impact on household wealth. Understanding the impact of conservation interventions on local communities is important in determining their effects on livelihoods and wellbeing. However, impacts are often not uniform and there are important equity dimensions when evaluating interventions. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate determinants of participation in conservation land leases in the Mara Conservancies in southern Kenya and its impact on household wealth. We find that land ownership determines who can participate in and benefit from conservancy land lease payments, and by how much. The design of the land lease payment scheme therefore has the potential to reinforce and, in cases, amplify existing inequities as it is built upon a legacy of unequal historical land distribution processes that limit the participation of women and poor landless households. We observed significantly higher incomes amongst participant households compared to non-participants, but these differences disappeared after propensity score matching. These results suggest that the differences were not caused by participation in conservancies. Our findings suggest that the design and outcomes of land-based conservation or payment for ecosystem services schemes should consider historic and existing land tenure systems if they are to reduce inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out why land expropriation is a hidden danger of the response to climate change; a danger that is not adequately captured in legislation and that risks disproportionately affecting the poor. Measures to mitigate the risks and impacts of climate change are often dependent on states' access to land. The legal mechanism through which states can obtain rights over land is expropriation, but a fair expropriation process depends on a number of structural conditions that are (partly or completely) lacking in many countries: effective recognition of people's land rights; a legally detailed expropriation process and adequate administrative capacity to implement it; and respect for the rule of law and access to justice for the affected populations. Climate change exacerbates the problems that many states have with their expropriation processes: it brings new and more complex questions about the limits of expropriation; provokes more urgent expropriations; and disproportionately impacts the poorest people. Based on legal analysis and empirical research, this paper looks into the case of Mozambique in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai to show how issues related with expropriation are a hidden danger for many Mozambicans, but also for citizens of other countries in similar situations. • Land expropriation is a hidden danger of climate change response that is not captured in legislation, and which disproportionately affects the poor. • Fair expropriation process depends on a number of structural conditions that are (partly or completely) lacking in many countries. • Climate change exacerbates the problems that many states have with their expropriation processes. • The various pieces of legislation have been progressively undermining the innovative and fairly protective rules of the Mozambican Land Law. • Expropriation rules in Mozambique should be unified in one single law that clearly details the expropriation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnographies on evictions and critical urban studies have showed how, globally, corporate and government seizure of urban space has been fundamental to the production of circuits of values under capitalism. This paper adds another layer to the scholarly understanding of evictions. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research on the economies of Addis Ababa's inner city and the politics of city building in Ethiopia's capital carried out between 2010 and 2018, I explore how evictions not only helped make room for private investments and urban regeneration. Evictions helped make the logics of investments and capital accumulation the framework within which the reach and the scope of policies of redistribution have been defined. By exploring how redistribution is made compatible with dispossession, this paper explores how evictions reshaped the terms of poor people's adverse incorporation in Addis Ababa's development through a political and moral economy of unequal entitlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy poverty is a serious problem worldwide that negatively impacts the subjective well-being of elderly residents. This paper aims to explore this relationship. Firstly, based on 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) launched by Peking University for 125 prefecture-level cities, representing 32,490 observations, this paper effectively and multidimensionally measures the level of individual energy poverty. Secondly, a mediating model is adopted to study the causal effect between energy poverty and subjective well-being through the OLS and 2SLS methods using carefully selected instrumental variables to overcome potential endogeneity. Finally, through a variety of robustness tests, the stability of the above causal effects is verified. The results show that energy poverty negatively affects senior citizens' subjective well-being. Health, depression level, and household food expenditure level can be used as the micro mechanism between the two variables. The above factors have a greater impact on those senior citizens with low educational backgrounds, from relatively low-income families, living alone, and having an urban household registration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper analyzes the impact of conditional cash transfers on the amount and type of child labor in poor households. It first develops a simple theoretical model where child labor and training are chosen to maximize inter-temporal household income, given constraints to social, household, and child endowments. Then, it conducts an empirical analysis using the randomized trial data collected to evaluate the 2006 Nicaragua conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. This social program transferred wealth to poor families in rural areas of the country conditional on children’s school attendance and health check-ups. One-third of the beneficiaries received, in addition, a wealth transfer to begin a non-agricultural business. The paper finds that the CCT program had a selective impact on the volume and quality of child labor, reducing it in the aggregate and steering it toward skill-forming activities. Specifically, the program appears to have reduced child labor for household chores and traditional farming while increasing it for non-traditional activities related to commerce and retail. These require the child to develop basic skills in reading and writing, arithmetic, and interpersonal relationships. Moreover, the paper finds that the source behind the increase in the better-quality type of child labor is not the basic component of the program but distinctively its business-grant intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to contribute to the understanding of gendered migration strategies through presenting the findings of a study on the interpretation of the rural and rurality offered by young women and men living in an economically backward, predominantly rural region of Hungary (Észak-Alföld) in connection with their migration plans. The paper also aims to compare the discourses of rural residents and academics on the rural. Both 17- to 19-year old male and female secondary school pupils and 20- to 42-year-old women living in rural settlements unanimously emphasised the lack of paid jobs as a characteristic feature of the rural. Their contextualised representations of the rural confirm the relevance of political economic approaches, which dominate Hungarian academic discourses. The image that students presented reflects actual gendered inequalities in the rural areas of the Észak-Alföld in respect of the labour market and public services and the values and expectations that local communities communicate. In the case of young adult women, the lack of jobs, impaired real property and economic underdevelopment are features that homogenise the otherwise varied picture of the rural. The paper points out the importance of studying the rural places facing economic and social problems and the advantages both of adopting a critical feminist perspective and of applying a political economic approach focussing on economic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides participants with a subsidy to purchase foods in approved retail settings. • Evidence shows that SNAP reduces poverty, but improving nutritional quality has been problematic. • Encouraging healthy purchases may boost nutritional quality among SNAP and low income households. • Papers in this issue provide examples of successful application of behavioral economic “nudges”. Abstract This overview paper provides a background for a series of papers on exploring ways to encourage healthier food purchases among low income consumers. The papers presented in this special issue make the case that behavioral economics is a promising approach to promotion of healthy food choices. They provide some examples of successful application of behavioral economics-based “nudges” at the time and place of food selection, whether in retail grocers or food banks. Future research may build on these examples to develop a broader array of strategies that could be used to improve food selection and, ultimately, diet and health of consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Reviews linkages between the SDGs and ASM and examines prospects for synergies and antagonisms. • Engages with 3 key debates: the large-scale policy bias; formalisation; knowledge politics. • Corporate and state centric nature of SDGs risks entrenching large-scale bias. • SDGs risk promoting an approach to formalisation that entrenches poverty and inequality. • A broader knowledge of ASM governance dynamics is essential to future work. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) provides a source of livelihood for millions of mostly poor people across the globe. At the same time, however, the sector is predominantly informal and associated with a range of persistent social and environmental challenges, including chronic poverty, deforestation, land degradation, mercury pollution and river siltation. The ASM sector is connected to all the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ways which both support and undermine their achievement. Attention, therefore, is growing on how the sector can shape, and be shaped by, the pursuit of the SDGs. This paper aims to articulate the linkages and interactions between ASM and the SDGs to inform ongoing debates about how to address the sector's social and environmental impacts. The review engages with three key, and closely related, issues that are central to determining the potential for synergies to emerge between ASM and the SDGs. These are: 1) the large-scale bias in mining policy; 2) debates around formalisation; and 3) knowledge. It is argued that the SDGs, their 169 targets and 232 indicators, and the state and corporate driven processes behind their development serve to exacerbate the large-scale bias; promote an approach to formalisation that risks marginalising the poorest and entrenching inequality, and; privilege techno-scientific knowledge at the expense of studies which examine the governance systems that actually dictate who, where, how and why people engage with ASM, knowledge that is essential for effective policy design. The review concludes that the prospects for the SDGs contributing positively to efforts to address environmental and social issues in ASM are poor. Worryingly, similar arguments apply across a range of important sectors, such as forestry and agriculture, where informality and poverty are also widespread. Raising the prospects for the SDGs requires focussing less on measuring whether or not particular indicators are met but rather on understanding what such goal-setting governance systems actually do with respect to the lives of their intended beneficiaries and the environments they inhabit. Such an understanding can inform strategies to resist the more pernicious effects of ostensibly unobjectionable global sustainability agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Groninger Veenkoloniën, a former peat region in the northeast of the Netherlands, persistent poverty is more prevalent compared to other rural regions in the country. Grounded in participant observations and supplemented by in-depth interviews capturing the social life history of 21 participants, this paper paints a detailed picture of the social networks and class practices of those experiencing persisting poverty in the examined town and surrounding region. In addition, we explore the relations between the rural context and lived experiences of class and poverty. Our findings highlight the complex experience as well as spatial embeddedness of persisting poverty. We find that, although the specific circumstances to which the participants are exposed vary greatly, the repercussions in terms of the characteristics of their social networks and practices are very similar. In general, the social networks of participants are fragmented and small, tightly knit, and characterized by clear power imbalances. The most formative experiences that result in the isolation of networks of poor are found to occur in the home and family situation during childhood years. We argue that poverty and the region's history are intricately interwoven resulting in a socio-spatial stigma which in turn contributes to the persistent and intergenerational character of poverty in the rural context of our study. Due to the long history of stigmatization, dismantling the socio-spatial stigma attached to the Groninger Veenkoloniën will presumably take multiple generations. • The experience of enduring rural poverty is highly complex and relational. • Diverse difficult circumstances over the lifecourse have similar impact on participants' social networks and practices • Generally, participants' social networks are fragmented and small, tightly knit, and display unfavorable power imbalances. • Socio-spatial stigma contributes to the enduring and intergenerational character of poverty in the Groninger Veenkoloniën. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important share of worldwide poverty reduction since the 1970s is due to China's decrease in rural poverty. This article asks how has this extraordinary story of success traveled beyond East Asia, and in particular how the World Bank reflected it. Building on studies of policy narratives, it shows how the Bank has since the 1990s constructed a perspective that aligns China with its broader depiction of "pro-market" East Asia. It downplays the role of the state as subsidizer and buyer of poor people's production and reduces Chinese policies to their land reform component, which then becomes the basis of policy advice extended to transitioning and African countries. The article's main contribution is showing the constitution of a development narrative spanning two decades and reaching the form of an extremely concise and therefore increasingly ubiquitous statement about a "liberalizing China" and the poverty-reducing and market-conforming effect of land reform alone. • The paper asks how the World Bank reflected China's successful poverty-reduction story. • The paper reviews the numerous statist elements present in China's rural poverty reduction. • The World Bank downplays the state's role as subsidizer and buyer of poor people's production. • It reduces Chinese policies to a simplified account of their land reform component. • The Bank's treatment of China becomes the basis of policy advice extended to transitioning and African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China’s rapid urbanisation driving its growing economy, the enlarging socio-spatial inequalities in the cities have received wide attention. Rather than following the largely studied residential spaces, this paper focuses on socio-spatial differentiation based on the spaces of one’s out-of-home activities. Using data of 1006 individuals collected by door to door questionnaires, this paper sets up the spatial and temporal autocorrelation GT coefficient to examine the spatial heterogeneity characteristics of high- and low income groups’ out-of-home activities in a continuous spatiotemporal framework. The factors and different mechanisms influencing the clustering of the activities are discussed to better understand social diversity in post-reform urban China. The results suggest that there is obvious spatial and temporal variation in high- and low income groups’ out-of-home activities, indicating that differing social spaces are not just limited to the macro-static residence-based living space, but also exist in the individual’s daily-activities space. Both high- and low income people have drastically different activity spaces and they may not interact much with each other. This is socially very significant because it means that there is considerable social isolation or segregation for both groups. The results also show that within the same income group there exists a divisive cluster with different formation mechanisms, including the job–housing relationship, the correlation of activity opportunities with those surrounding residential areas and the individual’s ability to access activities (that is, space–time accessibility). Structural transition can also impact on activities choices of various social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adaptation capacity relies on communities' social and natural assets (net-worth). • Increasing the value of household net-worth as a strategy for resilience building. • The local social cooperation wantok system as key for explaining adaptation. • The wantok system as source of wealth and social security for indigenous communities. • Communities providing more expedite response to disasters than government. Our paper analyses the patterns and factors that explain households' responses to extreme environmental events (EEEs) in two case studies of indigenous communities in the Solomon Islands. We used the ethnographic approach to describe the case studies and carried out thematic analysis to disentangle the factors that explain such responses. The first case was that of a rural community from Ranogha Island in the Western Province that was hit by the Tsunami of April 2007; the second was of a community settled in an informal development on a flood-prone area in peri-urban Honiara that was hit by a flash flood in April 2014. Drawing from the villagers' experiences, we found that aid and support from family and community, referred to by the respondents as the " wantok " system, was key to recovering from the disasters. Many respondents identified climate change as one leading factor that explained such catastrophic events. The social cooperation system, the government's role in responding to catastrophes and household net worth were identified among the main components of household responses. These constitute an effective engine to build palliative and preventive responses against catastrophic events and climate change risks. In spite of the extreme poverty observed, and the lack of government assistance, we conclude that amenities obtained from the community (through the wantok system) and household net worth (including the availability of common pool resources) enabled them to cope with the catastrophes. These factors are critical for long-term adaptation to EEEs and climate change risks. The community responses analysed with thematic analysis showed to be consistent with the conceptualization led by a farm-household model, and the household net worth as a source of income appears to be the correct measure of wealth instead the level of income in these less monetarised communities. Learning from how these communities and households responded to such EEEs provides evidence on how other communities could successfully adapt to increasing climate change risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of public relations in Antonio Gramsci's concept of cultural hegemony, specifically in a counterhegemony. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s preparation for the 1968 Poor People's Campaign serves as a test case on how public relations can help subordinate groups confront a hegemony. This paper suggests that Gramsci's philosophy provides an analytical heuristic for researching instances of contestation. Examining counterhegemonic campaigns offer public relations practitioners a means both to think about and to intervene in the world more effectively. • Antonio Gramsci postulated principles for how to conduct a counterhegemony. • Counterhegemony needs a multifrontal approach and a unifying, master frame. • The 1968 Poor People's Campaign was used to study the role of PR in counterhegemony. • Study shows counterhegemony also needs long term planning to overcome fixed beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty alleviation resettlement (PAR) is a key poverty reduction initiative that has resettled nearly 9.6 million impoverished people during the tenure of China's 13th Five-Year Plan. Beginning in 2019 additional follow-up support measures have also been implemented to help resettled households integrate into their new communities. However, the question remains as to what extent these extra measures have actually aided in integration. In this paper, we consider not only the multi-dimensionality of the integration process but also how the diverse aspects of resettled households shape the integration process. Drawing on extensive primary data from 993 survey households collected at three cities in Shaanxi, China, along with a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM), we systematically examine whether the PAR follow-up support measures have actually helped resettled household integration. Our results show that family capabilities and empowerment are both fundamental to ensuring integration and that the follow-up support measures did indeed help to improve these elements. Furthermore, we find that enhancing capabilities through follow-up support measures can facilitate resettled households to integrate both psychologically and economically and that empowerment has a large positive effect on social integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite massive new town development in megacities in China, none of the prior studies examined commuting disparities of residents of different income groups living in various types of new towns. Based on established literature on urban structure and commuting and income disparities in commuting, this paper has examined the roles of income and new town types in commuting distance, mode, and time differences. Based on Beijing's new town development context, we categorize its six major new towns into residential, national park-driven industrial, market-based industrial, and satellite new towns. Using descriptive analysis and regressions on 595 new town residents, we find that high-income commuters tend to have longer commuting distances and times and are more likely to drive to workplaces. Those living in the residential new town tend to have longer commuting distances and times. Results also show the transportation resource differences in different types of new towns. Those living in the residential new town are more likely to commute by public transit. Results also show the transportation difficulties for low-income residents who live in satellite towns. Though high-income commuters living in those towns have significantly longer commuting distances, they do not necessarily have longer commuting times than low-income people living in these towns. This study has several implications for future research and policy implications for new town development in China and other transit-dependent cities in Asia and Global South. • This paper examines commuting disparities across different types of new towns and income groups in Beijing. • High-income commuters tend to have longer commuting distances and times and are more likely to drive. • Those living in the residential new town tend to have longer commuting distances and times. • Those living in the residential new town are more likely to commute by public transit. • Results also show the transportation difficulties for low-income commuters living in satellite towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an economy experiences high growth rates, some sections of the population enjoy a more than proportionate rise in income. This leads to an increased allocation of resources towards the production of luxury goods. Since the production of luxury goods often requires more resources than the production of necessary goods, it may reduce not only the production of necessary goods, but also total production. This paper considers Houthakker's Indirect Addilog Utility Model and constructs a theoretical model to present this particular problem of growth. As an illustrative example, the model considers rice, where the land requirement for the production of aromatic rice is greater than that of ordinary rice. As income levels of the rich increases, the demand for aromatic rice increases and hence there is a shift in land devoted from the production of ordinary rice to high quality rice. Consequently, the total production of rice may decline. The model identifies factors that determine this possibility. The paper also looks at the relevant policy issues in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent poverty research focuses on the household responses to poverty through structure vs. agency perspectives. The human agency perspective, however, provides us important insights for looking beyond these simplistic tendencies which assume poor people as inherently passive, or envision them as helpless victims. In Turkey, politicians view poverty as a temporary and manageable problem which can be dealt with the provision of more charity or community support. Migrant networks, informal sector work and social assistance are considered to be important mechanisms that would provide resources for the poor. This paper argues that for some of the poor households none of these mechanisms provide sufficient resources. Instead, neighbourhood-based small-group solidarities and self-help networks enable those poor to develop collective capabilities and make ends meet. The paper also reveals that in Turkey, the implementation of social policies for poverty reduction could bring about relationships of patronage and in some cases contribute to existing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is an investigatory discussion on the strategies that were adopted during the aftermath of one of the most consequential natural disasters to occur in Brazil: the 2011 Disaster in the Rio de Janeiro Mountain Region. The main purpose of this discussion is to identify possible societal changes that have resulted from the adversities that characterised this event, which included, on one side, intense rain, landslides and floods, and, on the other, improper use of urban land by low income people and governmental connivance. Since early January, 2011, this multitude of tragedies is reported to have killed 910 people in 7 cities: 215 of these people remain missed. This paper is based on a field study that was developed by means of a survey with a group of experts who worked during the emergency situation and had the opportunity to participate in the recovery developments and handle efforts to avoid the repetition of such natural events’ destructive impacts. The field research for this paper was conducted in the concerned cities 365 days after the outbreak of the disaster. Research refers to the contentious hypothesis that although, undeniably, a disaster is never justified, regardless of any possible positive externalities, situations like those observed in this region should be considered not only as a matter of public policy and civil co-responsibility but also as a unique opportunity to develop strategies for significant and long-desired changes in society. The study's conclusion points to the maintenance of this hypothesis and to the necessity of considering it under further scrutiny. However, the conclusion also indicates that expertise must be developed not only so that society can better respond to emergency situations but, primarily, so that society can also strategically consider opportunities that are presented. The paper is structured formally; it begins with an introduction that describes the 2011 Disaster and the cities that were affected by it. Paper presents interviews with the local seven municipalities personnel, State of Rio de Janeiro Civil Defence workers and journalists. It closes with a discussion based on the hypothesis that is adopted here. Theoretical aspects are highlighted throughout the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The issues surrounding care and care-provision have been key themes in social scientific research, yet the intersections between care and poverty, particularly in rural contexts, have not been sufficiently explored. This paper addresses this gap by studying care for the poor in rural Russia. It argues that isolated, disengaged and decontextualised caring interventions often ignore situated possibilities and traditions of care and overlook what matters to poor people. To overcome this problem, the paper uses dwelling approach to prioritise a relational framework that focuses on care as concern, solicitude and possibilities for supportive action in the context of rural Russia. Using examples from fieldwork in two Russian villages, the paper stresses the constitutive role of non-representable practices of care which provide the ontological basis for recognising and understanding the worldviews and coping practices of the poor. It concludes with conceptual observations about alternative approaches to care, relations to others and responsibility for the rural poor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The paper examines the extent to which emerging social transfer programs in developing countries can improve the productive capacity of households in poverty and contribute to micro-level growth. It introduces a basic framework linking transfers to growth mediating processes and productive capacity outcomes. This is then used to organize and assess relevant findings from program evaluation studies. The paper concludes that social transfer programs can have positive effects on the productive capacity of poor and poorest groups; but further research is needed to identify and measure the size and significance of these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper used a primary data collected through a surveys among farmers in rural Kedah to examine the effect of non farm income on poverty and income inequality. This paper employed two method, for the first objective which is to examine the impact of non farm income to poverty, we used poverty decomposition techniques- Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) as has been done by Adams (2004). For the second objective, which is to examine the impact of non farm income to income inequality, we used Gini decomposition techniques. Our result indicate that non farm income can improve the level of poverty or non farm income sources contributed towards poverty reduction among agricultural household. All of the poverty measures show that the inclusion of non-farm income into the agricultural household income reduce the level, depth and severity of poverty. But on the other hand, non farm income increased income inequality among agricultural household in Kedah. As expected agricultural income is the main source of income for rural people in the study area. The policy implication of this study is to encourage non-farm income activities among agricultural households as this would raise their income and hence, reduce poverty among them. However, it should be focused on value-added activities, especially on the lower income group. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights • Cash transfers increase farm production by 33.5 percent. • None of these impacts are channelled through transfer-induced changes in farm labour. • In fact, cash transfers have no significant impact on family labour supply or on demand for hired labour. • This implies that the productive impacts of cash transfers flow through other channels, different from the labour one. Abstract This paper has the double aim to study whether unconditional cash transfers have an impact on farm production and to look into the causal mechanisms through which government transfers produce productive impacts. We use mediation analysis to identify the total effect of transfers on farm production and to isolate the influence of the labour channel from other transmission channels. In particular, we analyze whether changes in farm production are caused by transfer-induced changes in the use of farm labour – either by reallocating family labour between off- and on-farm work or by changes in the demand for hired labour – or if other transmission channels are at work. We find that cash transfers have a sizable impact on farm production but they do not lead to increased use of family or hired labour on the farm, which implies that the productive impacts of cash transfers flow through other channels, different from the labour one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Grant-based investments perform better than credit-based livelihood investments. • The sunk cost hypotheses has no evidence in our data. • Livelihood grant helps to reach the excluded ultra-poor and improves their livelihoods. Abstract Reaching the ultra-poor and enhancing graduation have long been challenges in many social protection programs. This paper compares the behaviors and performances of most vulnerable, ultra-poor and risk-averse households, who have been granted cash transfers for livelihoods investment, with the behaviors and performance of credit recipients, who are relatively better-off and willing to take credit risks. Using data from the Ethiopian pilot program, we tested if freely provided cash is used less efficiently as the sunk cost hypothesis portrays. Our data revealed that credit recipients indeed perform better than grant recipients. However, when we control wealth and other household characteristics, grant-based investments perform better than credit-based livelihood investments. Grants were allocated more likely to the planned investment than credits and the performances of the former is higher than the latter, both with and without controlling the intensive knowledge supports provided to grant recipients. The result is consistent and robust across different estimation approaches. This implies that the sunk cost hypothesis is not an important disincentive in livelihood grants. We concluded that livelihood grant (asset transfer) not only helps to reach the excluded ultra-poor but also to improve the effectiveness and productivity of rural livelihood investments. We further explained the possible reason for the superiority of grant over loan and its implication on graduation and program costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Housing supply is the main role of the state to improve living conditions to the inhabitants either by directly provision or by enabling its provision. Different policies were attempting to solve the housing problems especially for poor and low income. The enabling approach is considered as being the latest trends in housing supply, that change the role of the government from being the sole provider, to the enabler for housing markets and partnership. Therefore, many criticizers doubted in the ability of that approach to improve housing rights, sustainability, and economic growth at the same time. The paper attempts to highlight prerequisites needed to improve the success of the enabling approach in achieving adequate housing provision. Then the paper revisits the Egyptian experiences in the application of the enabling approach from 2005 till 2010. Finally, the paper highlights the main drops and lessons must be considered as promising approach after the revolution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Despite the many efforts exerted in improving the housing sector in different parts of the world, housing crisis are still growing, especially in developing countries. However there is an oversupply of units in the housing markets, the relationship between supply and demand still imbalanced. This is due to a large gap between the units' prices offered in the market and the financial capabilities of most of the citizens. So, delivering suitable units to low income people in Third World countries should include some categories that have been illustrated in this study. In general, this paper explains the reasons for the high prices of residential units in the markets, in order to know the reasons for the imbalanced relationship between both supply and demand. On the other hand, a literature review of some developed countries has been discussed, in order to know the ways in which these countries had achieved their huge progress in the housing field. These countries have turned from being underdeveloped countries to high developed countries; by strengthen their competitive situation in the global housing market over the years. As a result, general guidelines were drawn in this study for improving both supply and demand in housing markets of Third World countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Cultural ecosystem services are of greatest importance to poor urban people. • They experience a gradual, qualitative and quantitative fall in derived services. • 'Creative urban planning' can promote targeted environmental improvements. Abstract Impacts of climate change are often acute for those who live in informal settlements, the places where poverty, inequality and deprivation are concentrated in cities across the developing world. To broaden the strategies to address this issue, many cities are now embracing ecosystem-based adaptation and resilience. But, in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) the approach is yet to make much headway. This paper examines how climate change impacts on poor urban people via one component of urban ecosystem − urban green structures (UGS) − in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It examines: the UGS of importance to the city's informal dwellers and the range of derived services; changes over time to these UGS and derived services; and emerging adaptation practices. Using qualitative methods, the study has three key findings. First, cultural ecosystem services are of greatest importance to informal dwellers, although they do harness a range of other services. Second, the city's UGS have undergone dramatic changes due to both climatic and non-climatic factors. This has resulted in a gradual decline in the quantity and quality of UGS-derived services for the urban poor. Third, in responding to these changes, informal settlement dwellers have relied mostly on their personal, and sometimes on their collective, resources and capabilities. There are some innovative practices that draw on external institutions, but access to external support for informal communities has remained consistently low. City authorities should approach and plan greening 'for' (not 'in') informal settlements as a targeted environmental improvement endeavour – referred to here as 'creative urban planning'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A long tradition in economics explores the association between the quality of formal institutions and economic performance. The literature on the relationship between such institutions and happiness is, however, rather limited, and inconclusive. In this paper, we revisit the findings from recent cross-country studies on the institution–happiness association. Our findings suggest that their conclusions are qualitatively rather insensitive to the specific measure of ‘happiness’ used, while the associations between formal institutions and subjective well-being differ among poor and rich countries. Separating different types of institutional quality, we find that in low-income countries the effects of economic–judicial institutions on happiness dominate those of political institutions, while analyses restricted to middle- and high-income countries show strong support for an additional beneficial effect of political institutions. Our results bear important implications that we discuss in the concluding section of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]