Estimating Poverty in Afghanistan Without Consumption Data: An Imputation-Based Approach

Microfinance aimed at breaking the vicious circle of poverty in Ethiopia mainly by providing loan service for rural households. The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of microfinance loan service on multidimensional poverty status of rural households by taking evidence from Amhara Credit and Saving Association. To attain this objective, the researchers collect primary data by using household survey from the total of 290 sample sizes 145 from treated group and 145 from non treated group respondents by using quasi experimental design. To analyze the data, the resrahcers employed descriptive statistics and inferential statics. The propensity score matching model result reveled that microfinance loan service has a negatively impact on the multidimensional poverty status of rural households. It is also found that microfinance loan service has reduced standard of living, health and educational dimensions of poverty respectively for rural households of the study area. It is recommended that government should give special attention to support microfinance’s who support the rural poor household heads and improve the awareness level of farmers about its role towards poverty reduction . Keywords :-Microfinance loan, Multidimensional poverty, Impact, Propensity score matching model, Gozamen district DOI: 10.7176/JPID/53-04 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

China is undergoing a campaign which is called “The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy” to eradicate extreme poverty from rural China until 2020. Though poverty in rural China has been studied intensively in different objective dimensions, little attention has been paid to poverty line settings and subjective poverty, which are hinged to the policy effects. In order to fill in the research gap, this study employs a nationally representative survey of rural households in 2016, to measure subjective poverty in rural China, and analyze the determinants as well. Our results indicate that the mean subjective poverty line of the rural households is 8297 yuan per capita, which is far higher than the national poverty line (2800 yuan). Statistically, 29% of the surveyed rural households who are not objectively poor feel subjectively poor. The objective poverty line cannot fully reflect the subjective poverty perception. Thus, how to reduce the subjective poverty perception could be a major policy agenda in rural China after 2020, when extreme poverty is no longer a problem.

Ethnic identities, public spending and political regimes

This article presents a cross-national analysis of the relationship between domestic political regime changes and voting realignments of Third World nations in the United Nations (UN). It seeks to move beyond existing research that has assumed that foreign policy is rooted in political and economic structures and changes only when a political revolution occurs. It argues that a wider variety of regime changes—ranging from those involving mainstream political parties to milder ones such as factional shifts in single-party regimes—can also provoke major realignments. Using a new data set on Third World regimes, the article examines the impact of regime changes for eighty-seven nations on their UN voting patterns during the period from 1946 to 1984. Although the findings indicate that revolutions are most likely to provoke major voting realignments, they also show that the more frequent, nonrevolutionary types of regime change are associated with many voting realignments. A major implication of these findings is that foreign policy changes reflect a complex set of domestic regime factors, including leadership belief systems and internal political constraints, as well as aspects of political structure.

Democratization is defined as a change in political regime within a sovereign state from nondemocracy to democracy. The question of the optimal political regime for governing human communities has been core to Western political philosophy since Antiquity (Plato’s Republic), as has been the question of the causes of change between political regime (Aristotle’s Politics). The spread of Enlightenment ideas of individual rights, the advent of the modern state system starting in the 17th century, and the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century in western Europe and North America all contributed to the erosion of traditional religious and monarchical traditions of political rule. Since that time, scholars have continually returned to the classic questions of the sources of regime change. The roots of contemporary social science research can be found in modern political philosophers. Rousseau argued that participation was essential to popular sovereignty, while James Madison’s contributions to the Federalist Papers urged the creation of institutional brakes on popular sovereignty, to balance the will of the majority against the rights of minorities. Likewise, Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws) and Tocqueville (Democracy in America) both suggested, in different ways, that a connection exists between a country’s political culture and its political regime. Also, Karl Marx’s and Max Weber’s works continue to influence scholarship, particularly in terms of the question of the political consequences of economic and social modernization.

In 2004 the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) embarked on a large-scale research project on the ‘Impact of Globalization on the World’s Poor’ co-directed by Machiko Nissanke and Erik Thorbecke. The first conference was essentially conceptual in nature, meant to understand better the various mechanisms and channels through which globalization affects the poor either directly or indirectly. The other three conferences focused on each of the major regions of the developing world: Asia, Africa and Latin America. Theobjectivesofthisintroductionarethreefold:first,toreviewbrieflyhow the forces of globalization influence poverty in general; second, to describe and discuss the main transmission channels and mechanisms; and third to analyze the impact of globalization on Africa and present an overview of the six Africa case studies included in this issue. 1. The Impact of Globalization on the World’s Poor Globalization provides a strong potential for a major reduction in poverty in the developing world because it creates an environment conducive to fastereconomicgrowthandtransmissionofknowledge. 1 However,structural factors and policies within the world economy and national economies have impeded the full transmission of the benefits of the various channels of globalization for poverty reduction. In particular sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) hasbeenrelativelylessaffectedbytheforcesofglobalizationthanotherparts of the world. World income distribution continues to be very unequal and many poor countries particularly in Africa are stagnating. Moreover, there is much empirical evidence that openness contributes to more within-country

The spatial development of cities is influenced by a combination of economic, social, demographic and environmental factors, which cause certain vulnerabilities in cities. Vulnerability, in this respect, means “exposure to risk and an inability to avoid or absorb potential harm” (Pelling 2003). It is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, risks. Thus, socio-spatial vulnerability can be defined as the openness of regions, territories, cities, parts of cities, urban-built environments, urban areas, neighbourhoods or places to the risks caused by diverse dynamics, events and impacts. These disturbances can be unexpected or expected, sudden shocks or slowly developing changes and can have different drivers (economic, social, political or ecological). Vulnerability refers to the limited capacity of spaces to avoid or absorb potential harm from diverse risks and includes complex sociopolitical characteristics attached to the spaces that accommodate them. This means that physical capacities as well as social processes attached to these spatial processes need to be addressed here. Socio-spatial vulnerabilities are defined not only in terms of path-dependent characteristics of space but also their exposure to major pressure/damaging phenomena and economic pressure, particularly in periods of change in economic and political regimes, while also discussing modes of regulation.

The study examined the food security status and the socio-economic effects of climate change on rural farming households in Delta State, Nigeria. The main objective of the study was to determine the food security status of the rural farming households in the state while the specific objective was to determine the socio-economic effects of climate change on rural farming households in the state. Multistage sampling procedure was used in the random selection of local government, communities and rural households for the research study. The data for the study were obtained with the aids of structured questionnaire survey randomly administered to rural farming households in the state. Food security index was used to determine the level of food insecurity (food security status) among the rural households in communities that have been affected by flood and or other climate hazardswhile descriptive statistics was used to summarize the socio-economic effects and their food security status of the rural farming households in the state. Most respondents (65.10%) were married with low annual income of N54,702 ($353) which is less than the poverty line of less than $1 (one dollar) a day. Most rural farming households witnessed loss of investment on farm lands, lives and income respectively in the state. The study also reveals that rural farming households suffered ill health, such as malaria, water borne diseases and skin infections that were on the increase in the state. The study also revealed that majority of respondents was moderately food insecure. The study also recommends that Government planning agencies and policy makers should put into consideration these food insecurity situations in their planning and policy implementation to prevent future chronic food insecurity situation in the state.

To understand the full picture of multidimensional effect of financial development, simultaneously evaluating it through growthinequality-poverty triangle is very critical and one step ahead of traditional frameworks. This study examined the impact of financial development on poverty, growth and inequality in Ethiopia by taking into account simultaneous effects of time series data used with simultaneous equation model for the period of 1991 to 2019 as there was economic policy change in 1991. The finding shows, first, the direct impact of financial development on poverty reduction increases the proportion of population living below the national poverty line. Second, the indirect impact of financial development on poverty reduction lift up the poor through economic growth and income distribution. Third, indirect effect is pro-poor and trickle-down hypothesis firmly supported. Fourth, a strong financial institution plays a crucial role in improving the wellbeing of the poor. Fifth, Kuznets’ inverted-U theory that is explaining the average income and inequality in long run is not robust and the model is unverified. Finally, there is a long run cointegration relationship between financial development and poverty reduction. Therefore, it is concluded that financial development plays a significant role on poverty reduction both in short and long run mainly through the indirect channel of economic growth and income distribution. The government shall design a compulsory pro-poor public policy inquiring financial institutions to allocate certain percentage of loan to poor, SMEs and informal sectors. Ultimately, it will help to promote inclusive financial system and ultimately enhance innovation, productivity and industrial development.

IntroductionWe conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess the extent and to identify the determinants of food insecurity and coping strategies in urban and rural households of Bangladesh during the month-long,...

Rural and urban spaces are usually regarded as separate in both development theory and practice. Yet there are myriad links between them. Urban areas, including regional urban centers such as local market towns, provide households with new opportunities to sell goods and services. These opportunities increase household income by employing previously unemployed household resources or because households reallocate household resources so as to take advantage of new, more profitable activities. Links to market towns improve the prices received by rural households because households can benefit from increased demand for their goods or because the larger market is better able to absorb production from rural areas without causing prices to decline. These links allow households access to a wider variety of productive inputs and services, to better quality inputs or to inputs that are available on a timely basis. Benefits in terms of price, variety, and quality also apply to the purchase of goods for consumption. Despite the many potential benefits, the importance of local and regional urban centers (towns and small- and medium-size cities, as opposed to large cities and metropolitan areas) to rural livelihoods remains largely under-researched. Knowing more about the nature of links of rural households to market towns is important for guiding regional development policies and poverty-reduction strategies. This paper uses longitudinal data from 15 villages in rural Ethiopia to explore the nature and consequences of these links. It addresses the following questions: (1) What are the links between rural households and local urban centers? (2) Does better access to local market towns affect household economic behavior? and (3) Does better access to local market towns make households better off? Three core findings emerge. First, rural households undertake a significant proportion of their economic transactions in local market towns. These localities are the site for about half the purchases of inputs used in agricultural production, from a quarter to three-quarters of sales of crops and livestock. They are the primary location of the sale of artisanal products, particularly by women. More than half of household purchases of consumables and various types of foods occur in these market towns. Strikingly, these are, largely, the only urban localities in which these rural households undertake economic activities. Apart from remittances, there are few direct links with more distant urban centers or the capital city. Second, access to market towns affects economic activity in rural areas. The more remote they are from these towns, the less likely households are to purchase inputs or sell a variety of products. Third, improved access to market towns has positive effects on welfare. Improving the presence of roads and their quality and improved transport increases consumption outcomes: the effects are substantial and strongly significant. Furthermore, communities with better roads have persistently higher growth rates than others. More remote communities in terms of distance to town have a (relatively weak) tendency to grow slower, beyond any of the effects related to infrastructure. Development debates are predicated on the separateness of urban and rural spaces. But while one should be cautious in overinterpreting the results from this study, given the relatively small number of localities, the results suggest that local market towns and cities play a key role in providing space for the economic activities of rural households. Their role in connecting urban and rural areas suggests that drawing too strong a divide between rural and urban localities, and envisioning that economic activities are confined to respective urban and rural areas, are misleading. Rather than seeing the urban and rural sectors as being distinct, a more fruitful approach is to see them as a continuum, running from the capital city, to larger regional centers, to smaller market towns, to the rural spaces in which our respondents live. The extent to which a strategy focusing more on urban or rural localities will ?spill over? onto the other will depend on how closely they are tied together. In our results, market towns and cities are an important source of demand for products produced in rural areas, and rural residents are a source of demand for goods sold in urban areas. Improving the presence of roads, their quality, and improved transport are important factors that will further bind these spaces together and improve rural welfare.

The Youth, Democracy & Social Justice in Cote d’Ivoire

Studies of social mobility, in common with sociology in general, should reflect the parameters and concerns of the societies in which they are based. Hence, issues such as the ‘equality of opportunity’ debate, the role played by fundamental changes in political regimes at the end of the Second World War and at the demise of the socialist regimes in eastern Europe, and the effects of high rates of immigration have been built into the basic designs of national mobility studies. This article was sparked by the realisation that rates of unemployment in Northern Ireland, and in the western world generally, rose in the 1980s to levels not experienced since the 1930s. At the time of fieldwork for the Irish mobility study in late 1973/early 1974, male unemployment in Northern Ireland stood at approximately seven percent and was falling (Government of Northern Ireland 1976). By the mid-1980s, however, over twenty-six per cent of male employees in Northern Ireland were claiming unemployment benefit (Department of Economic Development 1984) and the percentage of those claiming benefit was rising.

The article is devoted to the problem of actualizing the role of historical heritage and cultural memory of the Swedish community of Kherson region in the national narrative of Ukraine. The study is based on the analysis of modern Swedish English and Ukrainian historiography, application of interdisciplinary discourse and methodological approaches to colonial studies, micro-history, cultural memory and identity studies. It aimed to clarify the factors determining sociocultural processes of adaptation and preservation of Swedish colonists’ identity during the long period of their settlement in the south of Ukraine and later reintegration into Swedish society. As a result of scientific analysis, the cornerstones of the historical past of the Swedish colonists are reproduced. The cultural heritage and identity of the Swedes after migrating to the Russian Empire underwent significant changes and evolution in a specific natural and social environment. Changes in political regimes and historical events in the late XVIII–XX centuries. had a direct impact on the processes of self-identification of Swedish colonists. At the same time, the ability of Old Swedes to maintain contact with their homeland helped to preserve their identity, cultural and mental characteristics, which enabled them to return to their homeland and reintegrate into Swedish society. The article presents forms of preservation and presentation of the cultural memory of the Swedish community in modern public discourse. One of the important channels of modern cultural communication and popularization of the historical heritage of the Swedish community is its presentation in museum expositions and places of remembrance in Ukraine and Sweden. The European dimension gives special relevance to the research topic. The image of the village and the preservation of the identity of the Swedish community have been significantly influenced by its constant contacts with Sweden and the Swedes of Finland in the past and present. Visit of the King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Sylvia of village Zmiivka in Ukraine in 2008 and the meeting with the descendants of the Old Swedes became the object of great attention of the wide public discourse in Ukraine and Sweden. It contributes to the strengthening and development of intercultural contacts and relations. My visit Roma in Gotland, Sweden in the framework of the European educational program in autumn of 2021, personal acquaintance with the museum exposition of Svenskbygården about the fate of Swedish colonists in Ukraine, direct communication with their descendants, contributed to the the research. Therefore, the article has a direct entry into the plane of public history.

POLICY LEGACIES AND THE “COMMUNIST” WELFARE STATES IN EAST CENTRAL EUROPE Our cross-national comparison of institutional development of the Czechoslovak, Polish, and Hungarian welfare states revealed the significance of institutional legacies of the imperial period during their early, formative years. It has also illustrated the ways in which these legacies are reproduced over time under the influence of national “blueprints” and in conjunction with major changes in political regime. This chapter presents a longitudinal analysis of the historical development of the major social insurance programs, pensions, sickness/maternity benefits, family allowances, and child-care payments in the three countries during the communist period. It aims to further expand our inquiry to uncover relevant continuities and discontinuities in government decision making. Moreover, this kind of disaggregated examination of historical trajectories of social insurance benefits enables us to better map, analyze, and compare individual “developmental paths” of the East Central European welfare states in a broad economic and sociopolitical context. These systems of social protection seem to have evolved in distinctive stages of retrenchment and expansion that often corresponded to the cycles of major crises of the polity and economy; as such their development contrasts with the conventional, linear trajectory of western welfare states, that is, one leading from the common “imperial” origins through periods of rapid postwar expansion to retrenchment or reform in the post-industrial era of economic austerity and globalism.