Winner of the 2011 Paul Davidoff award

This is a book about poverty but it does not study the poor and the powerless; instead it studies those who manage poverty. It sheds light on how powerful institutions control "capital," or circuits of profit and investment, as well as "truth," or authoritative knowledge about poverty. Such dominant practices are challenged by alternative paradigms of development, and the book details these as well. Using the case of microfinance, the book participates in a set of fierce debates about development from the role of markets to the secrets of successful pro-poor institutions. Based on many years of research in Washington D.C., Bangladesh, and the Middle East, Poverty Capital also grows out of the author's undergraduate teaching to thousands of students on the subject of global poverty and inequality.

"It is all free fighting here. Even some of the windows do not open, so it is useless to cry for help. Dampness and misery, violence and wrong, have left their handwriting in perfectly legible characters on the walls."(Manchester Guardian, 1870.)Step into the Victorian underworld of Angel Meadow, the vilest and most dangerous slum of the Industrial Revolution. In the shadow of the world's first cotton mill, 30,000 souls trapped by poverty are fighting for survival as the British Empire is built upon their backs.Thieves and prostitutes keep company with rats in overcrowded lodging houses and deep cellars on the banks of a black river, the Irk. Gangs of 'scuttlers' stalk the streets in pointed, brass-tripped clogs. Those who evade their clutches are hunted down by cholera, typhoid and tuberculosis. Lawless drinking dens and a cold slab in the dead house provide the only relief from this filthy and frightening world.In this shocking book, journalist Dean Kirby takes readers on a hair-raising journey through the alleyways, gin palaces and underground vaults of this nineteenth century Manchester slum, which was considered so diabolical it was re-christened 'hell upon earth' by Friedrich Engels. Enter Angel Meadow if you dare...

Poverty is perceived as an urban problem, yet many in rural Britain also experience hardship. This book explores how and why people in rural areas experience and negotiate poverty and social exclusion. It examines the role of societal processes, individual circumstances, sources of support (markets; state; voluntary organisations; family and friends) and the role of place. It concludes that the UK's welfare system is poorly adapted to rural areas, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and cutbacks exacerbating pressures. Voluntary organisations increasingly fill gaps in support left by the state. Invaluable to those in policy and practice, the book recommends a combination of person-based and place-based approaches to tackle rural poverty.

Throughout their lifetime, men and women are subject to a wide variety of risks, such as illness, accident, death, or less directly, unemployment, crop failure, loss of property, disability, business failure, and skill obsolescence.This book investigates the relationships between rural poverty, risk, and development. Building upon the author's work in the area, it summarises the contributions of recent theoretical and empirical work to our understanding of how risk affects rural poverty levels in developing countries. In particular the book examines what we do and do not know about risk coping strategies among today's poor rural societies. Ways in which these strategies may be re-examined and improved by governments and international organisations are proposed. Rural Poverty, Risk and Development is an important contribution to the development literature and should be read by anyone interested in exploring the causes of and solutions to poverty in rural areas.

First published in 1997. Considerable research has been done to identify neighbourhood influences on children's affective states, motivation, and behaviour. This population, along with the elderly, are the nation's largest dependent groups. In contrast, little research has been done to determine what impact living among poor neighbours has upon older Americans, specifically upon their psychological well-being and neighbourhood satisfaction. In this study the author has sought out to explore this deficit, using a sociological standpoint to examine quality-of-life issues relevant to elderly inner-city residents. This title will be of interest to students of sociology and urban studies.

This book, first published in 1996, examines an important developmental transition: the formation of identity, as well as the influence that having a well-developed identity may have, on a sample of adolescents living in urban Chicago. This study proposes that identity commitment, exploration, and continuity will be associated with positive psychological and behavioural outcomes for adolescents. This title will be of interest to students of sociology, psychology and urban studies.

This book explores the informal (political) patronage relations between the urban poor and service delivery organisations in Mumbai, India. It examines the conditions of people in the slums and traces the extent to which they are subject to social and political exclusion. Delving into the roles of the slum-based mediators and municipal council

This book investigates one of the most pervasive forms of modern slavery: bonded labour, whereby labour is linked with a credit agreement, leaving a debtor bound to repay their debt through long-term servitude. Drawing on cases from Nepal and India, the author adopts a human rights-based approach, interpreting slavery as a violation of human rights, and focusing on the empowerment of slaves as rights holders. Ultimately the book aims to explore the links between rights, power inequality and oppression, and to uncover ways to achieve the full liberation of bonded labourers. Identifying the factors and forces that contribute to and reinforce the situation of bonded labour in South Asia, the book demonstrates how systems of bonded labour are connected to long-term processes of colonisation, dispossession, migration, nationalisation of natural resources, and the introduction of private land ownership. Despite the fact that the United Nations has reported debt bondage as the most prevalent form of forced labour worldwide, there it is still little known about the real practical impacts of this approach to the lives of marginalised people. Based on extensive ethnographic research, this book will be a useful guide to students and scholars of modern slavery, international development, and South Asian studies.

This book is an edited volume which contains empirical studies on determinants of poverty and its reduction in Africa. It looks at multidimensional measures of poverty, production and productivity-related factors, policies influencing poverty and random, hazardous but preventive factors influencing poverty levels and their reduction. The book argues that we need to account for different dimensions of poverty, when it is measured and classified, and for identifying the determinants of poverty and factors reducing poverty. The studies in the volume provide readers with a comprehensive picture of the state of poverty, its measurement, causal factors and efficient policies and practices in poverty reduction on the African continent as a whole and also in selected countries.

This thought-provoking book provides an in-depth analysis of the working poor phenomenon and its causes across welfare regimes, and identifies the most efficient policy mixes and best practices that could be utilized to resolve this problem. Eric Crettaz argues that 'the working poor' is too broad a category to be used for meaningful academic or policy discussion, and that a distinction must be made between different categories of poor workers. He illustrates how different welfare regimes generate different forms of working poverty via in-depth case studies of various OECD countries over the past decade, underpinned by a theoretical and conceptual framework. Using meta-analyses of evaluations of social policy tools, the author addresses the key question of what constitutes the most efficient policies to deal with the problem of working poverty. Fighting Working Poverty in Post-industrial Economies will prove an enlightening and stimulating read for academics, researchers and students across various disciplines including sociology, economics and political science. In addition, policy makers and other stakeholders seeking innovative solutions to the potentially growing problem of working poverty will find this book to be an invaluable point of reference. Contents: 1. The Dilemmas and Puzzles of the Fight Against Working Poverty 2. Arbitrary Definitions, Official Definitions and Useful Typologies 3. The Three Mechanisms that Lead to Working Poverty 4. Potential Solutions: Minimum Wages, Social Transfers and Childcare Policy 5. The Real World of Social Policies: The Welfare Regime Approach 6. What Works Where, and for Whom? A Meta-analytical Approach 7. The Weight of Each Working Poverty Mechanism Across Welfare Regimes 8. There is No Such Thing as the Working Poor or a One-Size-Fits-All Solution Appendix: Summary Tables and Datasets Used for the Meta-analyses References

This book investigates the best strategies for poverty alleviation in post-disaster urban environments, and the conditions necessary for the success and scaling up of these strategies. Using the case study of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in the Philippines, the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall, the book aims to draw out policy recommendations relevant for other middle- and lower-income countries facing similar urban environmental challenges. Humans are increasingly living in densely populated and highly vulnerable areas, often coastal. This increased density of human settlements leads to increased material damage and high death tolls, and this vulnerability is often exacerbated by climate change. This book focuses on urban population risk, vulnerability to disasters, resilience to environmental shocks, and adaptation in relation to paths in and out of poverty. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including primary survey data from victims and those charged with overseeing the relief effort in the Philippines, Urban Poverty in the Wake of Environmental Disaster has significant implications for disaster risk reduction as it relates to the urban poor and is highly recommended for scholars and practitioners of development studies, environment studies, and disaster relief and risk reduction.

Originally published in 1924, Unemployment Relief in Great Britain takes up the history of unemployment relief in Great Britain, focusing on the after effects of the post-war period and the Great Depression. Primarily, the book provides a detailed study of England's experience with compulsory unemployment insurance and public employment exchanges. The book provides an intriguing study that will appeal to sociologists and historians alike, adeptly weaving practical aspects of the insurance acts, and the administration of employment exchanges.

This title was first published in 2001. Providing a detailed account of the working lives of visually impaired physiotherapists in Britain, this study also presents an overview of the employment position of disabled people in the UK, and is underpinned by a social model which views disability in terms of societal barriers rather than in terms of impairment.

This title was first published in 1974.

'At the beginning of the 2000-2010 decade, Bob Baulch (with John Hoddinott) was setting the micro-econometric agenda on poverty dynamics and chronic poverty and producing work that 'non-economists' had to read if they wanted to conduct serious research on these issues. In this volume - through his analytical excellence, the pursuit and methodological rigour, extraordinary energy, and his ability to lead such a distinguished network of colleagues - Bob Baulch has set the research agenda on poverty dynamics and chronic poverty for the next ten years.'- From the foreword by David Hulme, University of Manchester, UK 'This volume on poverty dynamics in developing countries, whose authors include the leaders in this field, is a must for analysts and research students. It advances the literature by addressing three important issues - measurement error, attrition, and tracking. For each of these questions, the volume leads by example, showing how they can be handled in specific cases. The results show that escape from poverty is a diverse phenomenon, and establish the importance of country and context specificity. The volume provide an analytical platform for careful policy assessment of policy alternatives.' - Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University, US This edited book analyzes what traps people in chronic poverty, and what allows them to escape from it, using long-term panel surveys from six Asian and African countries. The distinguishing feature of these studies, which were commissioned by the Chronic Poverty Research Center, is they span longer periods or have more survey waves than most developing country panels. This allows a detailed account of the maintainers of chronic poverty and drivers of poverty dynamics. Many of the studies (from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa and Vietnam) are written by leading development economists, and all pay careful attention to the difficult issues of attrition, measurement error and tracking. The book's comparative perspective highlights the common factors which cause people to fall into chronic poverty and allow them to break-free from it. A number of promising policies and interventions for reducing chronic poverty are identified. This up-to-date book will be an excellent resource for international development agencies, academics specializing in development economics and development studies, and researchers in international NGOs. Graduate students of development economics and development studies will also find much to interest them. Contributors include: B. Baulch, S.D. Bhatta, V.H. Dat, S. Dercon, D. Hulme, H.R. Lohano, J. May, C. Porter, A. Quisumbing, S. Sharma, I. Woolard

Why are development discourses of the 'poor child' in need of radical revision? What are the theoretical and methodological challenges and possibilities for ethical understandings of childhoods and poverty? The 'poor child' at the centre of development activity is often measured against and reformed towards an idealised and globalised child subject. This book examines why such normative discourses of childhood are in need of radical revision and explores how development research and practice can work to 'unsettle' the global child. It engages the cultural politics of childhood - a politics of equality, identity and representation - as a methodological and theoretical orientation to rethink the relationships between education, development, and poverty in children's lives. This book brings multiple disciplinary perspectives, including cultural studies, sociology, and film studies, into conversation with development studies and development education in order to provide new ways of approaching and conceptualising the 'poor child'. The researchers draw on a range of methodological frames - such as poststructuralist discourse analysis, arts based research, ethnographic studies and textual analysis - to unpack the hidden assumptions about children within development discourses. Chapters in this book reveal the diverse ways in which the notion of childhood is understood and enacted in a range of national settings, including Kenya, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom. They explore the complex constitution of children's lives through cultural, policy, and educational practices. The volume's focus on children's experiences and voices shows how children themselves are challenging the representation and material conditions of their lives. The 'Poor Child' will be of particular interest to postgraduate students and scholars working in the fields of childhood studies, international and comparative education, and development studies.

This authoritative collection, which includes a new introduction surveying the fields, contains key contributions from the comparative literature on the politics of income maintenance policy.In recent years theoretical work has been dominated by Gosta Esping-Andersen's regime theory. This volume demonstrates how that theory, together with arguments on convergence and path-dependency, has been applied to the comparative study of income maintenance policy. It highlights issues about the difference between social insurance and social assistance and about the important differences in the way women and families are treated. The collection looks at the literature that seeks to explain cutbacks, or their absence, highlighting issues about pensions policy. Income Maintenance Policy will be an invaluable source of literature for researchers, students and policymakers alike.

Under the rule of the current economic order, social injustice is ever-increasing. Issues such as poverty, inhumane working conditions, inadequate wages, social insecurity and an unhealthy labor market continue to persist. Many states are also unable to produce policies capable of resolving these problems. The characteristics of the capitalist system currently render it unable to provide social justice. In fact, on the contrary, the system reinforces these injustices and prevents economic and social welfare from reaching the masses. Many Muslim scholars have analyzed and, indeed, criticized this system for years. This book argues that an alternative and more equitable theoretical and practical economical order can been developed within the framework of Islamic principles. On the other hand, the experiences of societies under the rule of Muslim governments do not always seem to hold great promise for an alternative understanding of social justice. In addition, the behaviors of Muslim individuals within their economic lives are mostly shaped by the necessities of daily economic conditions rather than by the tenets of Islam that stand with social justice. Until 1990s, studies of Islamic economics made connections between finance and the notion of social justice, but work conducted more recently has neglected this issue. It is therefore evident that the topic of social justice needs to be revisited in a more in-depth manner. Filling an important gap in existing literature, the book uniquely connects social justice and Islamic finance and economics on this topic. Theory, practice and key issues are presented simultaneously throughout this book, which is based on the writings of a number of eminent scholars.

This title was first published in 1991: This collection focuses on the concepts and measurements of inequality, poverty, the concentration of wealth, and the implications of these issues for social policies. A special feature of this work is the international comparisons of the evidence on economic inequality.

This book explores the vital role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in compensating for the market's and government's inability to provide vital services. Its key theoretical contribution is the notion that poverty is the result of a triadic failure-when markets, government, and civil society become dysfunctional at the same time. Using data on Catholic missionaries' development work, this study presents the various ways by which FBOs mitigate market and government failures in healthcare, education, and social services, and in the process build and strengthen civil society. This study has two main objectives. First, it aims to present an overview of missionaries' development work, evaluating the socioeconomic significance of their faith-based development work. In addition, various comparative advantages and disadvantages have been imputed to FBOs in the religion-development literature, and we assess to what extent missionaries actually exhibit these posited qualities in practice. Second, the groundwork is laid for future religion-development scholars by presenting a theoretical framework and a method for evaluating the role and contributions of FBOs in the larger community. This is an important investigation of contemporary worldwide Christianity and its relationship with development. As such, it will interest scholars of religious studies and missiology, as well as development economics, public service and the political economy.

Examines the impact of poverty, inequality and social programmes in Russia, exploring these issues from the 1990s to the present day. The approach is based on institutional theory, complemented by Amartya Sen's capability approach highlighting the importance of agency and an institutional framework as a means for change. The emphasis on agency, female responsibility and the role of NGOs is a significant contribution to the field.

Cash Transfers, for all their notable successes, have been criticised for their limited ability to move poor households to provide sustainable routes out of poverty. This book draws on original qualitative research by leading scholars and development policy experts from a range of disciplines to examine whether cash transfers can have transformative spillover effects on individuals, households and communities. Case studies from Africa, the Middle East and Latin America show that, while there are limits to the sustainability of the transformations brought about by Cash Transfers, they can bring about changes affecting the social and political integration of very poor households. With chapters on Psycho-Social Wellbeing, Social Accountability and Social Capital, this comprehensive volume casts new light on the ongoing debates over the significance of the Cash Transfer 'revolution'. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Development Studies.

Since the group of least developed countries (LDCs) was identified in 1971, only five countries have graduated from the group, all of which are characterised by small size or population. The projections are that the next decade will see a rapid increase in the pace of graduation, with Bangladesh in particular poised to be one of the largest countries, in terms of its economy and population, yet to leave the group. While previously many LDCs viewed the prospect of graduation with some apprehension, fearing significant erosion of international support, increasingly, the move is being seen as a more positive landmark. This book aims to articulate appropriate strategies and initiatives to help Bangladesh to maintain its developmental momentum and to prepare for a sustainable graduation in 2024. In doing so, the book explores themes such as key analytical issues of the LDC graduation paradigm, smooth transition and structural transformation, and post-graduation challenges and opportunities. Further, against the backdrop of Gross National Income per capita, the Human Assets Index and Economic Vulnerability Index goals required for graduation, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the 2030 Agenda will also be in the process of implementation. Whilst some feel that the two agendas might be in conflict, the book teases out some of the important synergies which can be drawn when LDCs are undertaking the journey of graduation in the era of the SDGs. The book also takes into cognisance the uncertain external environment and the emerging global scenario within which Bangladesh's graduation is to take place. Conceptual discourse around LDC graduation and the particular narrative around Bangladesh's journey towards LDC graduation will be of interest not only to scholars of Bangladesh, but also to researchers and policymakers with an interest in LDC graduation for other countries facing similar challenges.

Poverty in India is intimately connected with caste, untouchability, colonialism and indentured servitude, inseparable from the international experience of slavery and race. Focusing on historical and modern practices, this book goes beyond traditional economic approaches to poverty and demonstrates its genesis in exclusion, isolation, domination and extraction resulting in the removal of human and economic rights. Examining cash and assets transfers and enhancement of women's rights, primary health and education, it scrutinizes inadequacies in compensatory policies for redressing the balance. This is an original interdisciplinary contribution that offers bold domestic and international policies anchored in human radicalism to eradicate poverty.

Originally published in 1981, Automatic Poverty provides a much-needed alternative to the Radical Right's analysis. The book argues that Britain's economic decline is symptomatic of an advanced stage of industrialisation in which productive processes are increasingly mechanised, but output remains static. Under these circumstances workers become redundant, the income of the working class diminishes, and dependence on the state increases. The 'Ricardo phenomenon' has become long-term feature of the British economy, and the author shows that neither Keynesian nor monetarist policies can remedy its consequences. It reflects a critical stage in the development of capitalism.