The thesis considers two pertinent questions about poverty in Fiji. One is about the accuracy of the poverty measures calculated by the concerned organisations and this relates to the use of equivalence scales and the general style of analysis. The other more intricate question is the disregard for poverty due to intra-family distribution asymmetries. Such miscalculations of poverty arise due use of average household per capita expenditure to represent consumption. This research attempts to answer the question of whether the tendency to underestimate the incidence of poverty by disregarding intra-family inequality is significant. Furthermore, it attempts to determine the causes of these inequalities. The issue is whether the classical method of data analysis (using the family as a unit) is the ideal way of analysing poverty and distribution in societies where large family structures exist and government relief remains minimal. To determine the household inequalities, household expenditures have been disaggregated into individualised expenditures. The individualised consumption expenditure is analysed and compared with the outcomes of aggregate household expenditure data. The analysis provides overwhelming evidence for underestimation of poverty when household consumption expenditures are used.

The thesis considers two pertinent questions about poverty in Fiji. One is about the accuracy of the poverty measures calculated by the concerned organisations and this relates to the use of equivalence scales and the general style of analysis. The other more intricate question is the disregard for poverty due to intra-family distribution asymmetries. Such miscalculations of poverty arise due use of average household per capita expenditure to represent consumption. This research attempts to answer the question of whether the tendency to underestimate the incidence of poverty by disregarding intra-family inequality is significant. Furthermore, it attempts to determine the causes of these inequalities. The issue is whether the classical method of data analysis (using the family as a unit) is the ideal way of analysing poverty and distribution in societies where large family structures exist and government relief remains minimal. To determine the household inequalities, household expenditures have been disaggregated into individualised expenditures. The individualised consumption expenditure is analysed and compared with the outcomes of aggregate household expenditure data. The analysis provides overwhelming evidence for underestimation of poverty when household consumption expenditures are used.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

The intended contribution of this work is to systematically discuss a selection of methodological topics and some of the empirical and technical issues that have been driving the measurement of inequality in Mexico so far. This discussion has two strands: firstly, the general case, and second, the particular case of Mexico. The general case include some philosophical concerns, along with a review of the traditional inequality measurement, the most common operational decisions in empirical calculations, and the recent methodological contribution of development literature that is mostly centered around the capability approach of Sen (1985b). The philosophical part contrasted with other approaches and rejected the Marxist view of economic inequality, which is mostly viewed as an outcome of exploitation. The distributional judgments are compared with more ancient schools of thought in regards to justice. Another methodological issue is such that social inequality, approximated by income inequality, might be considered as an additional functioning that measures the degree of social cohesion in the country, this finding is an implication that comes from the definition of functionings within the capability approach; then, social inequality is a functioning that is different in nature from other measures of destitution, and it is also different from the destitution that is captured by absolute poverty measurement. Our general case includes a review of the most popular ways to measure inequality, such as normative and pragmatic inequality measures that are mentioned with their properties, with their rankings of the distributions provided by the use of stochastic dominance and quantile comparisons, and the construction of statistical models and some graphic representations of income economic inequality; the approach of inequality concerns included in the measurement of relative poverty is rejected for the sake of clarity. Then this general view would guide us to a better understanding of the Mexican literature for the consideration of income distribution. The measurement of destitution provided by governmental offices is necessary to discuss, because there might be some lack of coherence between the design of the measurement and the complex legal system in Mexico. We also consider a set of regulatory concerns that might not be unique to the Mexican law, but may be generalized for developing countries as a whole. Some of the methodological discussions that show how the Mexican research has been influenced by the international literature about human destitution will be good to clarify, looking at the value judgments that have been automatically accepted by the researchers. A sensitivity analysis was performed to the empirical calculation of inequality in Mexico, so the measurement showed to be different in regards to a variety of operational concerns: the recipient unit, the different data from income and consumption-expenditure surveys, various non-responses and underreported biases, the inclusion of a regional price index, among other things. In this work was also covered the reasons why it might be the case that destitution and poverty assessment was studied more deeply than inequality itself, so the possible ambiguity of inequality with poverty measurement is challenged in this work with a variety of theoretical remarks and empirical arguments. The final topic for the particular case of Mexico is to shed light in regards to the context of the capability approach and the use of equivalence scales, because these methodological approaches consider respectively directly and indirectly the assessment of distributional judgments. This discussion is followed by an empirical assessment of inequality measures that is related with a set of functionings and services, where a direct relationship of measures of inequality with other measures of destitution is made clear.

This thesis studies the effects of specific community- driven developer programmes run in Evaton West over the past three years (200011 to 200314) on poverty in the area. These programmes were targeted at poverty reduction and community development in Evaton West, driven by the Eindhoven municipality and COL~AP~A'@. The relationship between the Eindhoven Municipality and the Ernfuleni Municipality started as a result of the twinning of Tilburg and Eindhoven cities in the Netherlands with the erstwhile LekoaNaal Local Metropolitan Council. Evaton West was chosen as a pilot site for Eindhoven to run practical IDP programmes at, as an example of what can be achieved from properly run community-based programmes. COL~AP~Aw' as introduced to Evaton West by the Vaal University of Technology's Community Service department. Its programmes were aimed at poverty alleviation through small-scale business initiatives coupled with leadership training in the area. The approach in the thesis is to define poverty, measure it and determine the profile of the poor. This is done firstly employing household-level indicators and secondly employing community-level indicators. At household level, some of the following tools are used: the poverty line (HSL), headcount index, the poverty gap, dependency ratio, the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. Unemployment is also used to determine poverty levels. At community level, the thesis employs tools such as community characteristics, community assets, principal services, education, health and environmental issues. The thesis ends with specific recommendations. In particular, formation of co-operatives and the introduction of the basic income grant (BIG) are proposed. The thesis shows that compared to Bophelong, which is approximately similar to Evaton West in terms of age and composition of residents (especially based on age analysis), Evaton West is worse-off judging by poverty and welfare at household level. It proposes that one of the problems is Evaton West's geographical displacement. The thesis also shows that compared to three years ago, Evaton west is marginally better-off judging from the community indicators applied. It ascribed such improvement to the application of the above-stated community-driven development projects in Evaton West. Finally, the thesis suggests that one of the major solutions in dealing with poverty is to consider small-scale, home-based industries that allow for easy entry. Such projects can only succeed if they are approached in an integrated manner in which local authorities are fully involved. Labour absorption capacity of large industries is declining. This forces policy-making to be redirected to alternative sources of employment. The thesis contributes ways in which community-driven development programmes may be assessed at household and community levels. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

This thesis studies the effects of specific community- driven developer programmes run in Evaton West over the past three years (200011 to 200314) on poverty in the area. These programmes were targeted at poverty reduction and community development in Evaton West, driven by the Eindhoven municipality and COL~AP~A'@. The relationship between the Eindhoven Municipality and the Ernfuleni Municipality started as a result of the twinning of Tilburg and Eindhoven cities in the Netherlands with the erstwhile LekoaNaal Local Metropolitan Council. Evaton West was chosen as a pilot site for Eindhoven to run practical IDP programmes at, as an example of what can be achieved from properly run community-based programmes. COL~AP~Aw' as introduced to Evaton West by the Vaal University of Technology's Community Service department. Its programmes were aimed at poverty alleviation through small-scale business initiatives coupled with leadership training in the area. The approach in the thesis is to define poverty, measure it and determine the profile of the poor. This is done firstly employing household-level indicators and secondly employing community-level indicators. At household level, some of the following tools are used: the poverty line (HSL), headcount index, the poverty gap, dependency ratio, the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. Unemployment is also used to determine poverty levels. At community level, the thesis employs tools such as community characteristics, community assets, principal services, education, health and environmental issues. The thesis ends with specific recommendations. In particular, formation of co-operatives and the introduction of the basic income grant (BIG) are proposed. The thesis shows that compared to Bophelong, which is approximately similar to Evaton West in terms of age and composition of residents (especially based on age analysis), Evaton West is worse-off judging by poverty and welfare at household level. It proposes that one of the problems is Evaton West's geographical displacement. The thesis also shows that compared to three years ago, Evaton west is marginally better-off judging from the community indicators applied. It ascribed such improvement to the application of the above-stated community-driven development projects in Evaton West. Finally, the thesis suggests that one of the major solutions in dealing with poverty is to consider small-scale, home-based industries that allow for easy entry. Such projects can only succeed if they are approached in an integrated manner in which local authorities are fully involved. Labour absorption capacity of large industries is declining. This forces policy-making to be redirected to alternative sources of employment. The thesis contributes ways in which community-driven development programmes may be assessed at household and community levels. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

Le constat évoqué à propos des peuples arabes, acteurs passifs d’un contexte de paupérisation, est centré sur ses orientations futures à travers l'impact déterminant des discours idéologiques.<p><p>L’entrée du monde arabe dans l’ère moderne a tourné au désastre, entravant son accès à la modernité en l'éloignant peu à peu d’une idée de progrès. L’effort de dépassement d'une logique de crise perpétuelle s'orientera inévitablement vers la recherche d’un idéal commun en mesure de conférer une stabilité vitale pour cette région soumise à des siècles d’instabilité. <p><p>Parmi les choix futurs des populations arabes, l'une des alternatives pourrait être l'éradication du contexte de misère via l’instauration d’un mode de production démocratique. / Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation philosophie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study analysed the impact of the palm oil industry on smallholder and subsistence farmers in the Rumonge region of Burundi, the second poorest country in the world. Burundi has widespread poverty and suffers severe capacity constraints, and skill shortages brought about, in part, by ethnic civil war, political conflict and internal displacement. Ingrained animosity has disrupted farming, escalated poverty and hampered development projects such as palm oil farming. Little research has been conducted into the causes and possible solutions to these problems. Using sustainable development theory and agricultural development theory, this study addressed this gap by considering the potential benefits of sustainable palm oil production in the context of the socio-economic challenges facing Burundi. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, the study targeted four villages of Rumonge District, including Kizuka, Busaga, Dama and Birimba. A combined total of 300 respondents was derived from these four villages. Findings of the quantitative study suggest that palm oil had a positive impact on the social and economic lives of rural communities in Rumonge District;. However, challenges remained in capacity, farming skills and resources. Results from qualitative interviews and focus groups confirmed that earnings from palm oil could be used to support education, skills transfer through family ties; and employment of local people. However, from the perspective of environmentalist activists, it was indicated that while palm oil generated economic benefits for local communities, at the same time traditional farming methods led to pollution and degradation of the natural environment. Qualitative findings further showed that small-scale palm oil farmers faced numerous challenges which often led to the failure of some of their ventures, such as access to funds, lack of technical support, lack of knowledge in utilising business networking, low skills levels, limited understanding of land rights issues, civil conflicts and rising production costs. Additional problems were noted regarding environmental problems and the disappearance of wildlife. The study confirmed the need for small-scale farmers to be adequately capacitated with information, training, resources and technical support to be able to use sustainable farming methods in order to enhance yields. The study contributes to knowledge by identifying how rural smallholder farmers can design more extended longer-term plans to improve their livelihoods, particularly concerning how palm oil production can address the socio-economic problems facing the people of Burundi. / Development Studies / D. Phil. (Developmental Studies)

Non-monetary deprivation indicators are now widely used for studying and measuring poverty in Europe. However, despite their prevalence, the empirical performance of existing deprivation scales has rarely been examined. This thesis i) identifies possible conceptual problems of existing deprivation scales such as indexing, missing dimensions and threshold; ii) empirically assesses the extent of possible error in measurement related to these conceptual problems; and iii) offer an alternative way for constructing deprivation measures to mitigate the identified conceptual problems. The thesis consists of four stand-alone papers, accompanied by an overarching introduction and conclusion. The first three papers provide empirical evidence on the empirical consequences of the missing dimensions and threshold problems for the measurement and analysis of poverty, while the fourth paper exemplifies a concept-led multidimensional design that can reduce the error introduced by these conceptual problems. The analysis is generally held for 25 EU countries using European Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC); only in the second paper, the analysis is done for the UK using British Household Panel Survey (BHPS).