Jharkhand state is carved out from Bihar state in 2000. The state is rich in mineral resources and poor in agricultural production. More than 75% of work force is engaged in agriculture, but generates only 20% of state’s GDP. About 45% area is under non-agricultural use and 32% is culturable...

This paper analyzes the relationship between rural poverty and forest land management in the context of charcoal production under slash and burn. An optimal control model determines how a representative household makes decisions on the allocation of forest areas to work and use them to affect...

This article assesses the importance of risk in the measurement of rural poverty in Burkina Faso. The analysis is based on longitudinal data collected as part of monitoring and evaluation activities for the PNGT-2 project on community development in the country. The first part of the study is...

The lack of consensus on the social and economic impact from access to land continues to generate heated political and academic debates. The existing empirical literature does not consider possible opportunity costs, factors that can affect this impact and different time horizons. Toward solving...

The Chhotanagpur Plateau in Eastern India lies on the so-called Tribal belt and is one of the poorest regions of India. Beginning in 1998, the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata and the International Rice Research Institute began research to examine the biophysical and socioeconomic factors...

Exploiting a unique set of longitudinal household data collected in a Philippine village over a thirty year period (1962-1994), this paper seeks to identify the pathways of exiting rural poverty and also the determinants of middle class stability. We also test the changes in the returns on...

The alleviation of poverty has consistently been one of the chief objectives of Indian policy. The country‘s modern history contains myriad examples of discussion on this topic as far back as 1901. After India achieved independence from Great Britain in 1947, it launched a series of...

Abstract This paper is about rural non-farm income and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa and the determinants of differentials access to rural non-farm incomes, with an overview of trends in the magnitude, and location of rural poverty. It also offers evidence that advances our...

Abstract This paper is about rural non-farm income and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa and the determinants of differentials access to rural non-farm incomes, with an overview of trends in the magnitude, and location of rural poverty. It also offers evidence that advances our...

The empowerment of the poor through cell phones is this paper’s central theme. There already exist a number of cases in the world where such empowerment has already occurred in the financial sector through the usage of cell phones: the cases provided throughout the paper are Kenya, the...