This paper describes different types of rural microfinance institutions, and examines their comparative advantages as well as related challenges to and strategies for deepening rural financial systems. The focus is not about which type of institution is better or worse for a particular target...

A single dimensional measure of economic welfare in terms of per capita income has neglected the contribution of the non‐timber benefits of forests; hence forests have not received their due weight in literature on the development process. Advocates a multi‐dimensional measure of economic...

Calculates income elasticities of demand for ten commodity groups and 30 rural regions in China by fitting Engel functions to a set of household expenditure survey data. Finds that staple food, clothing and fuel are necessities, while housing, service, eating out, entertainment and culture, and...

The magnitude of rural poverty is larger as compared to urban poverty in India. The basic explanation for sectoral poverty differentiates in India is the misallocation of resources and urban‐biased strategy of development. Investment allocation in Indian planning is not strictly based on the...

Examines the effects of fertilizer subsidy on the rural poor in Indonesia. Discusses the factors which lead to rural poverty and measures which have been undertaken to combat these. Describes in detail a survey undertaken in two villages to establish the effects of the removal of the fertilizer...

Reports the upheavals occurring in Mizo society as it moves from being agrarian based to being a monetised, capitalist economy. Claims that a great deal of poverty has been caused by the change from the tradition of communal ownership of relatively abundant land to the individual right to land...

Rural urbanization in China has been discussed by many scholars since the 1980s. In this paper, Wuxi and Jiangyin, two counties in China’s most developed area of southern Jiangsu, were selected as target areas. Four characteristics of rural urbanization, namely, multilevel transfer of rural...