Dell, Jones and Olken say we can already see that higher temperatures reduce growth by more in poorer countries:
This paper uses annual variation in temperature and precipitation over the past 50 years to examine the impact of climatic changes on economic activity throughout the world. We find three primary results. First, higher temperatures substantially reduce economic growth in poor countries but have little effect in rich countries. Second, higher temperatures appear to reduce growth rates in poor countries, rather than just the level of output. Third, higher temperatures have wide-ranging effects in poor nations, reducing agricultural output, industrial output, and aggregate investment, and increasing political instability. Analysis of decade or longer climate shifts also shows...
It is clear that many of today's poor will simply stay poor, even if economic growth is sustained. They are caught in one or more of five poverty traps: insecurity of life or livelihood; weak citizenship status; living in a deprived area; experiencing social discrimination; or held back by poor quality work. The second international Chronic Poverty Report, launched next week, shows that the poorest can be included in progress. ...(read more)...
The EU Council meeting on 19 and 20 June represents an important marker in this year of the Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are some serious issues to consider, including the failure of European donors to meet their commitments on aid, both in terms of the levels of funding and in delivering harmonisation and alignment. Most importantly, however, the future of the MDG project itself will be debated....(read more)...
Latin America is a laboratory of democratic governance and experimentation. As such, it is an important learning ground for other regions in the developing world. The challenge for donors is how to work with these weak democracies to harness their representative nature and their developmental potential. This means having to develop a deeper understanding of the political economy and context of the settings in which they are involved....(read more)...
The Food and Agriculture Organisation summit is a vital step in a process that will develop through a series of events in 2008, including the G8 in Hokkaido in July, and the UN Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals, in New York in September. At this stage, the Rome summit must deliver four things....(read more)...
The word "crisis" is much abused. But the current food price crisis constitutes a genuine emergency. Urgency in tackling it is essential....(read more)...
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Global food shortages have taken everyone by surprise. What is to be done?SAMAKE BAKARY sells rice from wooden basins at Abobote market in the northern suburbs of Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire. He points to a bowl of broken Thai rice which, at 400 CFA francs (roughly $1) per kilogram, is the most popular variety. On a good day he used to sell 150 kilos. Now he is lucky to sell half that. “People ask the price and go away without buying anything,” he complains. In early April they went away and rioted: two days of violence persuaded the government to postpone planned elections.“World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period,” says Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. To prove it, food...
I am increasingly convinced that businesses focused on serving the world's poorest 4 billion citizens are a very good investment whether you are looking for financial return and/or positive social impact return. That is, for those of us who seek to end poverty, the scale and sustainability potential of businesses focused on this "market segment" have enormous potential for doing good AND doing well. We don't live in a zero sum world.Due to the recent increase in non-charity capital flowing to entrepreneurial microfinance banks, we are seeing continued and exciting new growth levels in access to microfinance for the world's poorest. Correctly, I would argue, most microfinance banks are focusing primarily on client base expansion with basic microcredit products. One of Unitus'...
The crisis of surging food prices could mean “seven lost years” in the fight against worldwide poverty, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said.“While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs, and it is getting more and more difficult every day,” Zoellick said at a press briefing on the eve of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings.To meet this crisis, Zoellick is calling for a “New Deal on Global Food Policy.”For the “immediate crisis,” he urged governments to fill the US$500 million food gap identified by the UN’s World Food Program.Under the New Deal, the World Bank will nearly double agricultural lending to Sub-Saharan Africa over the next year to US$800 million to substantially increase crop...
You may have heard this piece of wisdom in Econ 101. “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Someone is footing the bill.
The mass material affluence that characterizes much of American society is a testament to the power of our economic and political system. The cities we inhabit, the cars we drive, the gadgets we use, the ways we communicate, the food we eat, and the energy we consume are all products of its success.
But remember, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Someone is footing the bill.
Allow me to modify that statement. There is no such thing as a dollar menu. Transactions inflict costs on the real world that are not reflected in a market pricing system.
A friend of mine is particularly fond of McDonald’s Dollar menu, and makes a habit of...
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CSM is running a special series this week on reducing global poverty. The first article (of the 5 to be published this week) focuses on the myths of poverty reduction. The six myths are:
its [poverty] an intractable problem
there are too many impoverished people to help
moral obligation is enough
if aid is good, more aid is better
globalization is hurting the poor
wealthy nations must work to reduce poverty everywhere
In regards to extreme poverty alleviation, the article notes a World Bank finding that the number of people living on less than $1 a day has declined by 400 million between 1981 and 2001.
True, but the same World Bank study also shows that the number of people living on less than $2 a day has actually increased in the same period. East Asia is the only region that...
The Destitution Tally: an indication of the extent of destitution among asylum seekers and refugees (Asylum Support Programme Inter-Agency Partnership, Jan. 2008) [text]
- Note: If the link doesn't work, alternate access is available through Refblog.]
EXCOM Standing Committee, 41st Meeting, Documents (4-6 March 2008) [access]
- Issues discussed include protracted refugee situations, supporting...
After decades of work to tackle gender disparities in healthcare, gender remains a significant factor in the poor health of millions around the globe.
Women account for the majority of the world’s poor, and being a poor woman carries serious health risks, including a higher prevalence of HIV and AIDS and an increased risk of sexual and family violence. Maternal mortality remains alarmingly high in many developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where more than 900 women die for every...(read...
To follow up yesterday’s post on Baltimore, here’s Ryan Avent on what I think was a key mechanism in the precipitous decline of many American cities:
During the great suburbanization wave of the postwar era, policies discouraged or prevented black suburban homeownership at every turn. Whites moved into appreciating assets in the suburbs, building wealth while they constructed a segregated and elite system of services for themselves–especially schools–constituting an upward-mobility engine. Blacks were relegated to the cash-strapped center, denied the ability to build wealth through homeownership, stuck in failing schools, plagued by crime. You want to find the root of differences in racial mobility, suburbanization and residential segregation is a good place to start....
The Wire is brilliant television, but there’s something I keep asking myself when watching it, though particularly the unremittingly bleak fourth season: Is Baltimore really this bad? Here are a few stats, with a comparison to London thrown in:
Baltimore lost 3% of its population between 2000 and 2006, while London gained about the same proportion.
14% of Baltimore’s housing units are vacant compared to about 3% of London’s.
On any given day, there are over 28,000 residents of Baltimore City who are incarcerated or under the supervision of probation or parole. That appears to be more than 4% of the total population. There aren’t any directly comparable figures for London but the total official capacity of its nine prisons is about 7,500, in a city more than...
Most people perceive that the world is a pretty rotten place and getting more rotten. We've got more wars/violence, more inequity, Africa getting poorer, climate change, etc.The Economist recently published an article sharing statistics about how the world is doing looking at three categories: the underlying social condition in poor countries, poverty alleviation over the past decade and the incidence of wars and political violence. The net is that while there definitely are some rotten things going on, the net is that over all the world is a much better place for most people than it was a decade ago. Here are a few of items from the article (please read the article for more details as there are a lot!):25 years ago in China, over 600M people were living on < $1/day. Today this...
Climate Change and its Implications for Human Migration and Health (International Centre for Migration and Health, Feb. 2008) [text]
Living on the edge of despair: destitution amongst asylum seeking and refugee children (The Children's Society, Feb. 2008) [text]
OI Policy Compendium Note on Gender Issues in Conflict and Humanitarian Crises (Oxfam International, Dec. 2007) [text]
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A new survey by the World Health Organization on the impact of widespread distribution of free bed nets combined with anti-malarial medicines notes some very positive results. Here are some excerpts and summaries:In Ethiopia, deaths of children from malaria dropped more than 50 percent. In Rwanda, they dropped more than 60 percent in only two months. Zambia had only about a 33 percent drop in overall deaths because nets ran short and many districts ran out of medicine. But those areas without such problems had 50 to 60 percent reductions. “We saw a very drastic impact,” said Dr. Arata Kochi, chief of malaria for the W.H.O., “If this is done everywhere, we can reduce the disease burden 80 to 85 percent in most African countries within five years"He estimates this 5-year campaign...
The government, specifically government corruption and a lack of administrative capacity, is named as the greatest obstacle to reducing poverty in Africa.When asked unprompted to name the greatest obstacle to reducing poverty in their country, nearly one in two Africans (46%) mention the government, specifically government corruption (27%), a lack of government administration and capacity (13%), and a lack of political will within government (6%). A lack of education (9%) and HIV/AIDS (8%) are also named frequently, but by significantly fewer respondents.Government corruption is named as the greatest obstacle to reducing poverty in most countries.See full Press...
Last week, I attended the World Economic Forum in Davos. This is the first of five blogs with my reflections and predictions on how the debates will be taken forward in 2008....(read...
Despite witnessing an impressive macroeconomic performance of their country, many Chinese have not benefited from this growth and investment boom. The conditions remain especially dire in rural China, still by and large mired in grinding poverty. A recent NYT article talks about this situation using the example of southern Henan Province. Located just West of the booming coastal cities, this area finds itself cut off from the economic opportunities created by China’s new economic openness.
Here in Henan’s rural Gushi County, only 73,000 of 1.4 million farmers fall below the official poverty level of $94 a year [but many more] subsist between the official poverty line and the $1 a day standard long used by the World Bank. The World Bank’s estimate of the number of poor people in...