Conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) have two main objectives: reducing poverty and increasing the human capital of children. To reach these objectives, transfers are given to poor households conditioned on investments in their children's education, health, and nutrition. Targeting mechanisms used by CCTs have been generally successful in…

This publication discusses world problems related to poverty and possible ways to escape those problems. Sections include: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "And the Poor Get Poorer" (reporting data on income distribution in many countries); (3) "The Global Poverty Trap" (describing various hindrances to improving conditions at the local, national, and…

The development theory for progress in the countries of the Third World must be based on the aspirations of the common people; the majority poor. The poor cannot simply be provided with resources; they must also be psychologically, socially, and economically empowered. The most important conflict in poor countries is between urban and rural…

This book, a collection of articles and papers, reviews techniques and tools that can be used to evaluate the poverty and distributional impact of economic policy choices. Following are its contents: "Evaluating the Poverty and Distributional Impact of Economic Policies: A Compendium of Existing Techniques" (Francois Bourguignon and Luiz A.…

Food security means access by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life. Available data suggest that more than 700 million people in the developing world lack the food necessary for such a life. No problem of underdevelopment may be more serious or have such important implications for the long-term growth of low-income…

The chains that link economic, social, cultural, and other factors to produce poverty need to be broken. The number of poor people has increased: one European in eight lives below poverty thresholds. New social categories are affected; the proportion of adults of working age is rising. The new poverty is also different because of its geographical…