Though Vietnam has made impressive progress in providing widespread access to basic social services, the quantity and quality of the country's social service provision have shown signs of deterioration within the last two decades. This paper examines the changing role of the public sector in...

This discussion paper constructs a consistent, nationwide poverty profile of Cambodia to support the government's effort to strengthen the design of poverty reduction policies. Basic data are given on the level and distribution of living standards as measured by per capita household consumption...

A social development perspective is used to seek an answer to the question: why is the incidence of absolute poverty so different among developing countries in East Asia, South Asia and Latin America?

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...

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...

Government and the private sector have complementary roles in promoting development and in fighting poverty.

This manual explains the planning process, technical procedures, and standards used in Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS) household surveys, including what these procedures entail, why they are used, and how they can be implemented.

Households in developing countries adopt livelihood strategies that often rely on income from a diversity of sources. From a policy perspective it therefore becomes important to understand the relative importance of income sources in driving inter-household inequality and poverty.

This study uses the Viet Nam Living Standards Survey of 1992-93 to examine the association between household living standards and the level of access to various infrastructural services.