investigations of poverty in developing countries tend to focus on the incidence of poverty at a particular point in time. If the … incidence of poverty increases, however, there is no information about how many new poor have joined the existing poor and how … many people have escaped poverty. Yet this distinction is of crucial policy importance. The chronically poor may need …

(1988-2008), we tell the story of this descent into hell from the standpoint of poverty and living standards. In 2008, after … five years of civil war and another episode yet to come (2010-11), the extreme US$1.25 poverty headcount had reached a …