Despite impressive success in improving living conditions in many Caribbean countries, poverty still persists throughout the region. This study seeks to improve our understanding of poverty in the Caribbean and the current efforts to address it. It analyzes the causes and characteristics of...

In this paper we attempt to answer three questions. Using conventional indicators as a guide what are Bangladesh's prospects in sharply accelerating growth? What lessons can be derived from the experience of East Asian countries especially with repect to nonfarm development? Can these lessons be...

This report consists of a collection of essays on extreme poverty. The first part of the report deals with what it means to live in extreme poverty, how to reach the very poor, through programs, and interventions, and how to make private, and public institutions more responsive to their...

La structure de la repartition du niveau de vie su sein d'une population donnee est le cheval de bataille analytique de toute evaluation sociale. Dans une optique de choix collectifs, une telle repartition sert d'indicateur de l'etat social. En general, on presente une repartition d'un...

This report presents an update of poverty and income distribution statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean and examines the trends in these statistics during the 1980s. The document also provides a series of nonmonetary social indicators to help complete the profile of living conditions in...

The quantitative and qualitative approaches to poverty measurement and analysis have often been treated by practitioners as two distinct--even opposing--approaches. This paper highlights the key characteristics of the two approaches, examines the strengths and weaknesses of each, and analyzes...

The alleviation of poverty has been the prime objective of small-scale targeted credit programs such as the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Based on household survey data, this paper concludes that these programs can play an important role in both lesing poverty and sustaining household welfare on a...

Since reducing poverty is one of the major development challenges facing India, the country has introduced a wide range of economic reforms, including a direct anti-poverty program, the Public Distribution System (PDS). This quantity-rationing food subsidy program has contributed to the upward...