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In recent decades, there have been an increasingly large number of developing countries that have embraced external economic liberalisation policies. Following trade theory, trade liberalisation has the potential to increase employment elasticity of economic growth and hence, have a greater poverty reduction impact, compared to import-substitution or closed economies. However, critics of globalisation often emphasise that the benefits from growth may not be evenly spread; hence, the distributional impacts may have an adverse effect on the poor. Vietnam has undertaken major market-based reforms to transform itself into an outward-oriented economy. The resulting effects show that not only has Vietnam achieved significant growth, but it has also managed to satisfy all the Millennium Development Goals. However, a significant element of Vietnam’s reforms involves integrating the Vietnamese economy with world markets through trade liberalisation policies, which may affect the welfare and distributional impacts on Vietnamese households. This dissertation examines the impact of trade liberalisation on growth, poverty and inequality for Vietnam. It develops a macro-micro analytical framework whereby a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is linked to a representative household model in order to capture these effects. The findings indicate that trade liberalisation will cause a significant increase in economic growth. The smallest gains occur under Vietnam’s unilateral trade liberalisation against ASEAN while the largest gains take place when Vietnam extends its liberalisation with the rest of the world. There will be a shift away from primary sectors towards industry-based sectors such as low-tech, intermediate manufacturing and durables. There is also substantial up-skilling of unskilled labour. Combined with the large real returns to capital goods, this will result in significant increases in both capital investments as well as in the accumulation of human capital. In addition, economic growth will induce a fall in poverty rates in Vietnam. Nonetheless, there will also be large increases in the inequality of income, especially in the rural sector. Hence, although growth has lifted a large proportion of households out of poverty, the distributional impacts have been detrimental to the most vulnerable households.

The poor in most developing countries are persistently marginalised in their living conditions, including their access to safe drinking water. The research objectives have been (1) to better understand why this state of affairs has endured despite decades of efforts and interventions, and (2) to propose more adequate alternatives. The central case study was concerned with drinking water in rural Bangladesh ?? a matter of grave urgency since the discovery of arsenic in the groundwater more than a decade ago. Millions of users are exposed to dangerous levels of contamination, and the implementation of solutions has been slow and inadequate. Little has been done so far to integrate the research on this complex humanitarian crisis. Many have argued that conventional views on development are ill-equipped to address the ??growing gap?? between rich and poor; the models often fail to interpret inequity beyond mere financial indicators. This thesis therefore puts forward a different analytical framework (based on the theoretical concepts of core-periphery and capital stock). This was designed to increase our understanding of marginalisation by taking into account unequal ownership of, entitlement to, and control over, ecological, technological, organisational and human assets. Through an action research methodology, this analytical framework was informed by a participatory programme that established safe drinking water supplies in several poor and arsenic-affected villages. The learning experience was then fed back into the programme. This pragmatic approach was also systemic, i.e., it emphasised the community level, which was framed within the context of external influences, various other programmes and national policies. This resulted in a clarification of the problem in terms of (1) lack of ownership of community land, resources, drinking water institutions and technical knowledge; (2) restricted access to (non-) governmental services and benefits from public or collective assets; and (3) exclusion from decision-making in new water sector developments. It was concluded that alternative strategies need to focus on vesting ownership, entitlement and control in marginalised communities. The steps to achieve this will have far-reaching ramifications for how organisations, policymakers and funding agencies perceive and plan development projects. The analytical and methodological approach of this thesis is relevant to other cases of marginalisation in different socio-economic contexts.

In the last 50 years, Mexico, like many other countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa, has experienced accelerated urban growth. Urban growth has been accompanied by an increase in urban poverty. While the spatial distribution of poverty in urban areas in Mexico is varied, new settlements that tend to grow in the peri-urban hinterland of cities are largely associated with poverty. This is because inexpensive, but mostly illegal, agricultural land (ejido or private) has been alienated to satisfy the demands of low income population for housing. The focus of this study lay in the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City (MAMC), which is the habitat of diverse low-income groups. Among those groups are the campesinos (people with rural background engaged totally or partially in agricultural livelihoods). Some studies have suggested that campesinos are very vulnerable to urban growth, since population expansion has put severe pressure on their agricultural land, which, despite its marginal value, is used to produce crops for either semi-commercialisation or subsistence. Although such research has showed how poor campesinos have engaged in non-agricultural activities to make a living and how land and their communities are threatened by urban growth due to speculative pressures on land and/or environmental deterioration, little is known about the impact of urban growth in the process of impoverishment of campesinos living in peri-urban areas. This study aims to understand how the growth of the MAMC affects poverty in campesinos’ households, in order to recommend directions for poverty reduction. Three villages in Chalco municipality, which is situated in the peri-urban fringe of Mexico City, were selected as the study area. Based on the development of a conceptual framework, this study considered three interconnected elements underpinning poverty: multi-dimensionality, complexity and dynamism. For this reason, the Sustainable Livelihoods approach was selected as an analytical tool, as it provided a flexible analytical framework that encompasses all those elements. The study is divided in three stages. In the first stage (namely documental investigation), a series of published and unpublished written materials were reviewed to determine how the growth of the MAMC transformed the nature and availability of resources in Chalco municipality from 1970 to 2000. This stage was followed by the empirical investigation that aimed to examine how those transformations affected campesinos’ assets (human, natural, physical, productive and social), the strategies they used to adapt to such changes, and how they perceived changes in poverty status. Accordingly, for this stage, quantitative and qualitative longitudinal and cross-sectional data were collected from 110 campesinos’ households living in the study area in 1997 and 2003 by using structured questionnaires. Qualitative data were also collected by using semi-structured interviews from 34 campesinos’ households in 2000. The final stage, called recommendations, involved the synthesis of the results of the documental and empirical investigations and suggests a series of directions for poverty reduction in campesinsos’ households in the study area. The documental and empirical investigations revealed that changes in asset ownership, between 1997 to 2003, depended on both transformation in the nature and availability of resources in Chalco and intra-household organization. Fundamental transformations in socio-demographic, economic, natural, physical and political/organisational resources of Chalco municipality were mainly, but not exclusively, associated with the growth of the MAMC. Climatic and physical characteristics of Chalco were also evident. To respond to such changes, campesinos implemented a series of strategies to get access to resources. Such strategies were based on campesinos’ needs, priorities and the portfolio of assets available, and their functionality. It was clear that campesinos depleted some existing assets to acquire urban assets and preserve their rural assets. In some instances, such strategies led campesinos’ families to satisfy their basic needs and, therefore, perceive themselves as non-poor. However, in other instances, such strategies prevented families from meeting their needs, leading them to the perception of being poor. The recommendation was made that in order to reduce poverty among campesinos in the study area, it was necessary to identify different alternatives to support their urban and rural assets and certain of their strategies that improve the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities and mitigate constraints to meeting their goals.

This thesis is a study of women, warung (small shops) and Cicadas kampung community of Bandung, West Java. Data on warung, women, and the Cicadas kampung is based on 12 months fieldwork in 2002. To collect the data, a combination of in-depth interviews, observation and participant observation were adopted. In this research I explore the warung issue from the perspective of warung owners and other members of the kampung. ¶ From the owners’ point of view the main reason to establish warung is to extend the limited income produced by their family members to make ends meet. Other reasons are the possibility to combine income earning activities with domestic chores and social prestige. Having a warung gives more social prestige to a woman warung owner than being a domestic helper. On the other hand, having a job in the formal sector is considered better than conducting a warung business. ¶ From the kampung residents’ point of view, the reasons to shop at warung are mainly related to certain services offered by warung which are not available in other trading sectors. Warung offer small quantities of goods and credit. These services match the socioeconomic condition of the people, who are mostly low income. For the poor, warung indeed ‘support’ them by providing these affordable services which are in accord with their purchasing power. Moreover shopping at warung enables the people to save, especially when buying cooked food. For kampung people, cooking may lead to a higher cost. Proximity is another reason people shop at warung—which could be as close as next door—and this saves them transportation costs. ¶ Warung are also a social centre where people interact and discuss community affairs. Buying snacks (jajan) and credit (nganjuk) are important practices which mark the relationship between warung owners and their customers. These practices are less likely to characterize other trading sectors. ¶ More women than men run warung because having a warung enables women to combine reproductive and productive work, though this leads to the women working extremely long hours—up to 16 hours a day—to perform both tasks. Warung can also be seen as an extension of women’s domestic responsibilities, by reinvesting money and providing meals for their family.

The poor in most developing countries are persistently marginalised in their living conditions, including their access to safe drinking water. The research objectives have been (1) to better understand why this state of affairs has endured despite decades of efforts and interventions, and (2) to propose more adequate alternatives. The central case study was concerned with drinking water in rural Bangladesh ?? a matter of grave urgency since the discovery of arsenic in the groundwater more than a decade ago. Millions of users are exposed to dangerous levels of contamination, and the implementation of solutions has been slow and inadequate. Little has been done so far to integrate the research on this complex humanitarian crisis. Many have argued that conventional views on development are ill-equipped to address the ??growing gap?? between rich and poor; the models often fail to interpret inequity beyond mere financial indicators. This thesis therefore puts forward a different analytical framework (based on the theoretical concepts of core-periphery and capital stock). This was designed to increase our understanding of marginalisation by taking into account unequal ownership of, entitlement to, and control over, ecological, technological, organisational and human assets. Through an action research methodology, this analytical framework was informed by a participatory programme that established safe drinking water supplies in several poor and arsenic-affected villages. The learning experience was then fed back into the programme. This pragmatic approach was also systemic, i.e., it emphasised the community level, which was framed within the context of external influences, various other programmes and national policies. This resulted in a clarification of the problem in terms of (1) lack of ownership of community land, resources, drinking water institutions and technical knowledge; (2) restricted access to (non-) governmental services and benefits from public or collective assets; and (3) exclusion from decision-making in new water sector developments. It was concluded that alternative strategies need to focus on vesting ownership, entitlement and control in marginalised communities. The steps to achieve this will have far-reaching ramifications for how organisations, policymakers and funding agencies perceive and plan development projects. The analytical and methodological approach of this thesis is relevant to other cases of marginalisation in different socio-economic contexts.

In the last 50 years, Mexico, like many other countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa, has experienced accelerated urban growth. Urban growth has been accompanied by an increase in urban poverty. While the spatial distribution of poverty in urban areas in Mexico is varied, new settlements that tend to grow in the peri-urban hinterland of cities are largely associated with poverty. This is because inexpensive, but mostly illegal, agricultural land (ejido or private) has been alienated to satisfy the demands of low income population for housing. The focus of this study lay in the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City (MAMC), which is the habitat of diverse low-income groups. Among those groups are the campesinos (people with rural background engaged totally or partially in agricultural livelihoods). Some studies have suggested that campesinos are very vulnerable to urban growth, since population expansion has put severe pressure on their agricultural land, which, despite its marginal value, is used to produce crops for either semi-commercialisation or subsistence. Although such research has showed how poor campesinos have engaged in non-agricultural activities to make a living and how land and their communities are threatened by urban growth due to speculative pressures on land and/or environmental deterioration, little is known about the impact of urban growth in the process of impoverishment of campesinos living in peri-urban areas. This study aims to understand how the growth of the MAMC affects poverty in campesinos’ households, in order to recommend directions for poverty reduction. Three villages in Chalco municipality, which is situated in the peri-urban fringe of Mexico City, were selected as the study area. Based on the development of a conceptual framework, this study considered three interconnected elements underpinning poverty: multi-dimensionality, complexity and dynamism. For this reason, the Sustainable Livelihoods approach was selected as an analytical tool, as it provided a flexible analytical framework that encompasses all those elements. The study is divided in three stages. In the first stage (namely documental investigation), a series of published and unpublished written materials were reviewed to determine how the growth of the MAMC transformed the nature and availability of resources in Chalco municipality from 1970 to 2000. This stage was followed by the empirical investigation that aimed to examine how those transformations affected campesinos’ assets (human, natural, physical, productive and social), the strategies they used to adapt to such changes, and how they perceived changes in poverty status. Accordingly, for this stage, quantitative and qualitative longitudinal and cross-sectional data were collected from 110 campesinos’ households living in the study area in 1997 and 2003 by using structured questionnaires. Qualitative data were also collected by using semi-structured interviews from 34 campesinos’ households in 2000. The final stage, called recommendations, involved the synthesis of the results of the documental and empirical investigations and suggests a series of directions for poverty reduction in campesinsos’ households in the study area. The documental and empirical investigations revealed that changes in asset ownership, between 1997 to 2003, depended on both transformation in the nature and availability of resources in Chalco and intra-household organization. Fundamental transformations in socio-demographic, economic, natural, physical and political/organisational resources of Chalco municipality were mainly, but not exclusively, associated with the growth of the MAMC. Climatic and physical characteristics of Chalco were also evident. To respond to such changes, campesinos implemented a series of strategies to get access to resources. Such strategies were based on campesinos’ needs, priorities and the portfolio of assets available, and their functionality. It was clear that campesinos depleted some existing assets to acquire urban assets and preserve their rural assets. In some instances, such strategies led campesinos’ families to satisfy their basic needs and, therefore, perceive themselves as non-poor. However, in other instances, such strategies prevented families from meeting their needs, leading them to the perception of being poor. The recommendation was made that in order to reduce poverty among campesinos in the study area, it was necessary to identify different alternatives to support their urban and rural assets and certain of their strategies that improve the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities and mitigate constraints to meeting their goals.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125).