Foreign Direct Investment and Poverty Reduction


Book Description

In the 1990s, foreign direct investment began to swamp all other cross-border capital flows into developing countries. Does foreign direct investment support sound development? In particular, does it contribute to poverty reduction?




ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction


Book Description

'ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction' presents a conceptual framework to analyse how poverty dynamics change over time and to shed light on whether ICT access benefits the poor as well as the not-so-poor. Essential reading for policymakers, researchers, and academics in international development or ICT for development.




Shock Waves


Book Description

Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.




The Quality of Growth in Africa


Book Description

In recent years, concerns about the outcomes and nature of economic growth have given way to a new emphasis on its quality. This volume brings together prominent international contributors to consider a range of interrelated questions concerning the quality of growth in Africa, with a primary focus on sub-Saharan countries. Contributors discuss the measurement of growth, the transformations necessary to sustain it, and issues around equity and well-being. They consider topics such as the distribution of income gains from growth; the extent to which economic growth has resulted in improvements in employment, poverty, and security; structural transformations of the economy and diversification of the sources of growth; environmental sustainability; and management of urbanization. Offering both diagnoses and prescriptions, The Quality of Growth in Africa helps envision a future that goes beyond increasing GDP to ensuring that growth translates into advancements in well-being. Although the book focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, much of the contributors’ incisive analysis has implications for countries outside the region.




Links Between Growth, Inequality, and Poverty: A Survey


Book Description

Is there a tradeoff between raising growth and reducing inequality and poverty? This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the complex links between growth, inequality, and poverty, with causation going in both directions. The evidence suggests that growth can be effective in reducing poverty, but its impact on inequality is ambiguous and depends on the underlying sources of growth. The impact of poverty and inequality on growth is likewise ambiguous, as several channels mediate the relationship. But most plausible mechanisms suggest that poverty and inequality reduce growth, at least in the long run. Policies play a role in shaping these relationships and those designed to improve equality of opportunity can simultaneously improve inclusiveness and growth.




African Economic Development


Book Description

In a sweeping survey of African economies, leading scholars offer the latest research into the biggest current influences on African growth and development, taking account of relevant institutional contexts as well as significant or unique problems that have slowed Africa’s progress.




The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty


Book Description

The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty looks at the complex relationships between economic growth, poverty reduction and trade, and examines the challenges that poor people face in benefiting from trade opportunities. Written jointly by the World Bank Group and the WTO, the publication examines how trade could make a greater contribution to ending poverty by increasing efforts to lower trade costs, improve the enabling environment, implement trade policy in conjunction with other areas of policy, better manage risks faced by the poor, and improve data used for policy-making.




Inclusive Growth in Africa


Book Description

Inclusive Growth in Africa analyzes the concept of inclusion within the challenges facing Africa’s rapidly growing economies, where rising affluence for some has been accompanied almost everywhere with rising inequality. Using a combination of political economy analyses, sector studies and econometric models, the contributors delve into a range of areas associated to the new realities on the continent. Topics covered include issues of disability, corruption, capital flight, and their implications for economic sustainability. There is also a discussion of the impact on development of dependence on externally determined prices for Africa’s natural resources. Other sector analyses look at agriculture and wind power, and the innovations required to make a difference for the poorer majority. The book comprises of a rich array of essays on socio-economic inclusion in Africa by authors drawn from academia, African think tanks and international organizations. It would be of interest to scholars and students of many disciplines, including: Economics, Sociology, Development Studies, and African Studies.