Although microcredit is considered the main vehicle for increasing the income of the poor and alleviating poverty in Bangladesh, it is now well recognised that more than this is needed to reach the ultra poor in rural areas. Consequently, almost half of the Bangladesh population is in some way linked to non-governmental organizations' development…

Although a vast amount of literature on the characteristics of public assistance recipients exists, little is known about the characteristics of the clientele of nonprofits that provide material assistance. This study examines the question of who receives material assistance from nonprofits. Three panels of the Survey of Income and Program…

On the basis of official statistics, poverty has halved in Ghana over the period from 1991 to 2005. Our objective in this paper is to assess how far this fall was linked to the creation of better paying jobs and the increase in education. We find that earnings rose rapidly in the period from 1998 to 2005, by 64% for men and by 55% for women. While…

This document presents 2010 data from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program of the U.S. Census Bureau. The SAIPE program produces poverty estimates for the total population and median household income estimates annually for all counties and states. SAIPE data also produces single-year poverty estimates for the school-age…

Effective poverty reduction programs require careful measurement of poverty status. Commonly used consumption or income-based classifications of poverty aggregate together households that are persistently poor with those who are only in poverty due to passing conditions. They also classify as non-poor households that are at risk of falling into…

This paper discusses the three hypothetical market baskets of goods and services for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes annual cost estimates. This program is referred to as the standard budgets or family budget program. The family budget program provides: 1) estimates of budget levels originally constructed to represent standards of…

In response to the experience of the 1990s, the international community has adopted a set of international development goals for reductions in income poverty and improvements in human development indicators. The report states that attacking poverty in low- and middle-income countries is the greatest single challenge facing the global development…

This paper compares the present official poverty measure with a relative measure of poverty. The comparison is made both conceptually and empirically. These two aspects comprise the two major parts of the paper. Within the first part, the conceptual section, various issues common to both poverty measures as well as the measures themselves are…

Three definitions of poverty are considered along with a careful specification of the perspective needed to assess it. (Author/RK)

This technical paper summarizes what is known about the receipt of in-kind income; that is, benefits that take a non-cash form. These benefits may be provided by the government (food stamps, Medicare, etc.), or the private sector (health insurance, free housing, etc.). The problem addressed in the paper is the development of a theoretically…

This technical paper describes the latest consumer expenditure survey for the period of 1972 to 1974. The survey is a comprehensive source of detailed information on the expenditure patterns and savings behavior of American consumers in relation to their income and other characteristics. The first part of the paper describes the most recent…

As part of the National Study of American Indian Education conducted in 1968-69-70, this final report deals with economy, education, demography, and employment of Indians in the communities of Ponca City and White Eagle, Oklahoma. The study emphasized the attitudes of the people in Ponca City regarding education for all students enrolled in the…

This background paper provides the basis for evaluation of programs aimed at reforming social welfare programs. It analyzes the effect of current income transfer programs on poor families. Public expenditures for social welfare programs have grown four-fold while at the same time, the percentage of families in poverty has declined by only 30%.…

This comprehensive document studies poverty in the U.S. and develops a set of recommendations for dealing with the problems. It examines poverty from the perspectives of both the national economy and local areas. It considers circumstances in both labor and consumer markets and looks at public and private activities, at revenue and spending…

Reports the effect of valuing in-kind benefits as income and contrasts the resulting changes in reported poverty rates in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Finds consideration of in-kind benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid does reduce the reported number of poor, but incidence of poverty remains higher for nonmetro areas. (LFL)