The theoretical part of Master’s paper defines the essence of differentiation of population’s income and the problem of its optimality. A system of indexes measuring the differentiation of income was created, the relation of inequality of income and economical growth was defined and social consequences of growing differentiation of income was evaluated. A comprehensive analysis of notion of poverty was carried out, the relation between inequality of income and poverty was evaluated and drawbacks of criteria for poverty assessment were revealed. A model system of income redistribution was created, essential means of reducing income inequality and poverty as well as the problem of their efficiency were distinguished and trends of improving the redistribution system were defined. In the practical part of Master’s paper a consistent analysis of the level, dynamics and structure of the average disposed income was carried out and differences of income between the social groups of residents were identified. Comparing city and village households assessed the scope of income differentiation. A prognostication of the size of average disposed income was performed and the relation of income and other economical indices was assessed. The formulated hypotheses of the scientific research were proven. First, the structure and dynamics of income has significant differences between the social groups of residents. Second, the scope of differentiation of income in city and village households is... [to full text]

This study examines the effect of changes in the industrial composition of employment, a change in the “industrial mix”, on the prevalence of poverty across Canadian counties. Regression analysis suggests shifts in the proportion of employment to high-wage industries reduce poverty rates. This finding contradicts some previous literature, which argued that job growth in high-wage industries would not reduce poverty rates because these jobs are not available to low-skilled workers. / Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)

The present study explored the attitudes and the expectations that educators have towards learners who are deprived by poverty. The influence of the educators' race and gender on these attitudes and expectations was explored as well as the relationship between indigent learners and their educators. The challenges that face educators on a daily basis, make teaching a particularly daunting task. In addition educators have the complex task of teaching learners who come from a diverse range of home backgrounds. These stressors combine to create a complicated learning environment. The interplay between home environmental risk factors, teacher support and learner achievement and performance is of utmost importance for eventual school success and a positive self-perception for the learner. This study was conducted by using a survey questionnaire which was completed by 53 educators (Indian and African), and semi-structured interviews with 12 indigent learners. The researcher was able to determine the emergent attitudes and expectations of educators according to the educator's race and gender. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 indigent learners to determine their relationship with their teachers and their self-perceptions. The responses to the interviews were qualitatively analysed. The findings of this study have indicated that generally, educators have positive attitudes towards indigent learners. They are supportive of these learners and try, in most instances, to plan lessons in a manner that would benefit the disadvantaged learner. With regard to race and gender, African male educators were the highest number that perceived indigent learners negatively, while African female educators appear to be the most sympathetic and held the least negative views on indigent learners. Results also indicated that the majority of educators had formed pre-conceived expectations about learner's abilities based on variables such as the home background, knowledge of siblings performances in school, dress and speech. Although African male educators had the most negative attitudes towards indigent learners, they (African male educators) also held the highest expectations of indigent learners as compared to Indian female educators who held the lowest expectations. This means that African male educators believe that indigent learners have the potential and perform relatively well in the classroom despite their poverty status. The results of the semi-structured interviews, which were qualitatively analysed, indicated that generally, the indigent learners who were interviewed, were happy at school, had friends and enjoyed a good relationship with their teachers. These learners appeared to always try hard with their schoolwork and held high career aspirations. Based on these findings, it appears that generally, the indigent learners who were interviewed had positive self-esteem based on positive relationships with their educators. The findings of this research were discussed in relation to previous findings from international literature. The study was concluded with recommendations to educators on monitoring and controlling expectance effects and bias on the achievement and social behaviour of learners. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

This research project attempts to investigate what happens to a learner's performance at school when he / she comes from a poor family background. It addressed the critical questions. The data was collected from learners of KwaMgaga High School, at Umlazi, an African township 30 km south of Durban. This is a case study research and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in order to collect data although qualitative research methodology dominated the study. Issues of poverty and academic performance were investigated in the countries outside South Africa as well. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The research findings emanating from the data proves that, indeed poverty impacts negatively on academic performance. Secondly learners from impoverished backgrounds experience many problems that affect their performance at school. If a child lives in poverty, he \ she is likely to perform poorly at school. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

Based on the recognition that children are important social actors, researchers within the geographical discipline are now calling for more research on children as a neglected grouping undergoing socio-spatial marginalisation.

This paper presents the first cross-country empirical evidence on the determinants of participation in Fairtrade and the impact of the export of Fairtrade certified products on agricultural growth in low- and middle-income countries. Using the number of certified producer organizations per country in 2006-2010 as a proxy for Fairtrade exports, estimation results indicate a small but significantly positive effect on the growth rate of per capita value added in agriculture that is largest in upper middle income countries. Given the particularly poverty-reducing effect of agricultural growth, we find empirical evidence that Fairtrade certification is indeed able to deliver its core values, but misses to target the very poor. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Energy poverty – the circumstance of depending on low quality fuels and inefficient end-uses, or conversely, the lack of access to modern energy services – is one of the defining global issues of our time. Access to electricity is essential to eradicating energy poverty and empowering individuals, communities and economies, to reach their potential. Globally, 1.3 billion people, mainly in less developed countries, lack access to electricity. While central grid extension often provides electricity at very low cost, the reliability of the central grid in less developed countries is so low that the priority given by policy makers to central grid extension must be questioned. Rather than maximizing the extent of often unreliable or simply unenergized central grid extensions, we demonstrate the imperative to consider a multi-track approach to electricity access that includes microgrids and high quality solar lighting products. Through case studies and modeling efforts based on extensive empirical data, we provide new insight to this imperative and elucidate the nature of the challenges and solutions for microgrids to eradicate energy poverty.

This thesis investigated certain dimensions of inequality in Greece that have not or have only partially been explored so far, utilising the micro-data of a survey carried out in 1988 by the National Centre for Social Research. Reviewed were relevant studies conducted in the past, and evaluated were the available statistical data and information. Certain theoretical and methodological issues that one encounters when analysing and measuring inequality were also discussed. Initially, an analysis by income source was employed, which provided valuable information on the structure and profile of income inequality in Greece. The decomposition analysis by income components showed that entrepreneurial income is the most significant contributor to overall inequality in Greece, despite the fact that it represents a relatively small fraction of household income. Income taxes and social security contribution appeared to have a very weak distributional impact on overall inequality. This impact was explored further by employing regression analysis. It was found that the share of income tax and contributions is mainly related to wages and salaries. The most effective way to maximise their distributional impact is by eliminating tax evasion among the recipients of entrepreneurial income. The average household income was found to be greatly affected by certain population characteristics, and inequality appeared to vary substantially between population subgroups. The decomposition analysis showed that in all the population groups used, inequality between groups accounted for only a very small segment of the overall inequality. Finally, the hypothesis that, in Greece, the family background is a significant factor in determining the offspring's socio-economic status was tested. A loglinear analysis was used in order to uncover all the potentially complex relationship among the variables employed. These results suggested that people face unequal opportunities for education and unequal probabilities of falling below the poverty line due to their family background.

Many aspects of economic analysis require judgements to be made about distributions. When agreement on a single criterion for judgement is not possible, it is necessary to examine whether one distribution is better than another from a number of perspectives. The problem of 'distributional dominance', which Part One addresses, is precisely this problem of ordering two distributions in relation to one or more objective functions, via use of a single 'dominance criterion'. Four themes are pursued. It is argued that welfare, poverty and inequality dominance criteria can be fruitfully analyzed within a single framework. The need to approach the problem of distributional dominance as a statistical one is stressed. Estimators and a method of inference are proposed and are themselves tested via a simulation study. The likely effect of aggregation on the attained ordering of distributions is assessed, also via a simulation study. A critical re-appraisal is presented of the most widely-used dominance criterion, second-order stochastic dominance, and alternative criteria are proposed. The usefulness of thinking of dominance criteria in terms of curves within bounds is emphasized. Part Two of the thesis is a study of the distribution of income in urban China in the eighties, using both aggregated, nationwide data and disaggregated data for two provinces. This study is both an application of the methods developed in Part One and a case-study of the dynamics of income distribution in a transitional economy. Evidence is found that cash-income inequality has grown over the decade, and this is linked to the reform process. However, inequality remains exceptionally low by international standards. Moreover, both the system of price subsidies and that of cash compensation introduced to replace the subsidies are shown to have exerted an equalizing influence on the urban distribution of income.

In line with recent growth strategies as well as the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, countries are faced with achieving sustainable and inclusive growth. While inclusive growth is imposed as important task for countries to accomplish, its conceptualization is rather puzzling and demands more attention. There is no consensus on the concept of inclusiveness and its major determinants let alone on how to operationalise it. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is twofold. The first part is dedicated to provide deep insight of the concept and point the main characteristics of an inclusive growth wave. This part provides discussion of the literature on inclusive growth together with analysis of the different approaches used in the different definitions of the concept. It finishes with an overview on the empirical attempts to measuring inclusive growth. The second part investigates the influence of technology, represented in form of economic infrastructure, on inclusive growth through the process of poverty reduction. This part of the thesis analyses the influence of access to technology on inclusive growth, where the poverty reduction is the variable in focus. Regression analysis based on a cross-country data set including more then 100 developing countries indicates that technology access help to reduce poverty. The results show that economic infrastructure have negative correlation with poverty, although the explanatory variables are not robust to changes in poverty measures and changes in specifications.