320 research outputs found
When is Economic Growth Pro-Poor? Evidence from Tunisia
No full textMany empirical studies have shown that economic growth generally leads to a drop in poverty. These studies have also pointed out that a given growth rate is compatible with a large range of outcomes in terms of poverty reduction. This means that growth is more pro-poor in certain cases than in others. Using complete and partial poverty orderings, this paper suggests a measure which captures the extent to which economic growth is pro-poor. This measure decomposes poverty changes into two components: the relative variation in the average income of the poor and the relative variation in the overall inequality within the poor. Evidence from Tunisia shows that economic growth was to a large extent pro-poor during the last two decades.Poverty measurement, robustness analysis, economic growth, Tunisia
Measuring Poverty in a Multidimensional Perspective: a Review of Literature
No full textRecent pioneer papers of Sen (1981, 1985, 1992) have emphasized that poverty is a multidimensional issue. Hence, it should be seen in relation to the lack of important "basic needs" or "basic capabilities". This recommendation has motivated many researchers to focus on the way multidimensional aspect of poverty should be measured and aggregated. This survey synthesizes the contribution of the main approaches to measuring poverty in its various dimensions to better understand the theoretical framework and the limitations of each. This should help one choose which approach to adopt based on the circumstances and the constraints of the study to be conducted.Multidimensional Poverty Measures, Robustness Analysis
On the Impact of Better Targeted Transfers on Poverty in Tunisia
No full textThis paper describes the effects of general food subsidies on poverty in Tunisia, as revealed by household survey data for 1990. The analysis indicates that the poorest certainly take advantage of this system, but at the price of considerable leakages to non-poor people and at a sizeable economic efficiency loss resulting from relative price distortions. Further, non-parametric estimations suggest that there are no commodities predominantly consumed by the poor. This implies that targeting by commodities is not an effective way to fight against poverty and so, it is unlikely that restructuring the current scheme would improve significantly the living standards of the less well-off members of society. We then investigate the impact on poverty of a more targeted transfer scheme, based on proxy means-tests, using an appropriate econometric technique to model it. Simulations show that this design would be more effective in reducing poverty than the use of general food subsidies. Finally, dominance tests show that this design would first-order-dominate food subsidies scheme within a range of poverty lines including all those estimated and generally used for Tunisia.Poverty, Targeting, Subsidies, Transfers
The intention to share: professionals’ knowledge sharing behaviors in online communities
No full textSince the 1990s, the rise of some online communities as well as the decline of others has caught the attention of academia as well as of practice. One assumption for the decline of some online communities is the lack of the rich knowledge content that is believed to be the source of competitiveness and sustainability of any online community. Online communities are increasingly acknowledging the value of knowledge and the knowledge sharing processes required for online communities to build and sustain their identity in this competitive and constantly changing online environment. This research aims to provide an understanding of knowledge sharing behavior through the adaptation of two major theories imported from Social Psychology: the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB). Exploring knowledge sharing from a social psychological perspective provides an understanding of the process an individual goes through to make the decision to share his/her knowledge with others as well as the different psychological factors facilitating or hindering knowledge sharing behavior. Research findings are based on a web-survey of 158 group members, and an observation of interactions of eight active groups in one online community of professional educators. Proposing an extended theoretical model of knowledge sharing behavior in an online community, this research found that normative pressures, including subjective norms and descriptive norms, had a strong influence on the formation of the individual’s intention to share in the online community. Knowledge sharing self-efficacy also was found to significantly account for explaining the individual’s motivation to share his/her knowledge with other members. Attitude and controllability were not found to have significant impacts on the formation of intention. The qualitative analysis of the interactions of members of eight active groups revealed that there were other implicit factors that motivated individuals to engage in online activities. The observation of 24 online sessions had generated beliefs related to knowledge sharing behavior. Those beliefs were related to normative beliefs and the pressure created by the expectations of others, control beliefs and the confidence of the individual’s ability to behave, and finally, behavioral beliefs and individual outcome expectations.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Bibi M. Alajm
Decomposing Poverty Changes into Vertical and Horizontal Components
No full textVariations in aggregate poverty indices can be due to differences in average poverty intensity, to changes in the welfare distances between those poor of initially unequal welfare status, and/or to emerging disparities in welfare among those poor of initially similar welfare status. This note uses a general cost-of-inequality approach that decomposes the total change in poverty into a sum of indices of each of these three components. This decomposition can serve inter alia to integrate horizontal and vertical equity criteria in the poverty alleviation assessment of social and economic programs. The use of these measures in briefly illustrated using Tunisian data.Poverty, Vertical Equity, Horizontal Equity, Targeting, Tunisia
Focused Transfer Targeting against Poverty Evidence from Tunisia
No full textThis paper introduces a new methodology to target direct transfers against poverty. Our method is based on estimation methods that focus on the poor. Using data from Tunisia, we estimate ‘focused’ transfer schemes that highly improve anti-poverty targeting performances. Post-transfer poverty can be substantially reduced with the new estimation method. In terms of P2, the most popular axiomatically valid poverty indicator, a 30 percent reduction in poverty from transfer schemes based on OLS method to focused transfer schemes, requires only a few hours of computer work based on methods available on popular statistical packages. Finally, the obtained levels of under-coverage of the poor is so low that reforms based on ‘proxy-means’ focused transfer schemes are likely to avoid social unrest.Poverty; Targeting; Transfers.
Equity and Policy Effectiveness with Imperfect Targeting
No full textWe propose a general cost-of-inequality approach that jointly integrates horizontal and vertical equity criteria in the assessment of poverty alleviation programs, with the strength of each criterion being captured through its own inequity-aversion parameter. This contrasts with the assessment of poverty alleviation programs done with simple under-coverage and leakage ratios or with other methods that do not take into account the heterogeneity of the poor and that do not address directly the social benefits of achieving normative criteria. Our methodology is illustrated using Tunisian data and two alternative poverty alleviation policies. We find inter alia that the social ranking of commodity and socio-demographic targeting in Tunisia depends on the policymaker's comparative preference for vertical and horizontal equity.Poverty, Vertical Equity, Horizontal Inequity, Transfers, Targeting, Tunisia
Growth, inequality and poverty alleviation policies in the MENA region
No full textThe present contribution aims at presenting first results of a project on “Poverty reduction, growth and inequality in the MENA Region”
اردو لغت (تاریخی اصول پر)‘‘ کے اندراجات کی معنوی وضاحت کا تجزیہ’’
No full textAnalysis of explanations of meanings in Urdu Lughat: Tareekhi Usool Par
By Ameena Bibi, Assistant Prof, Department of Urdu, International Islamic University, Islamabad
Urdu Dictionary Board (UDB) has compiled and published Urdu’s most comprehensive dictionary, titled Urdu Lughat: Tareekhi Usool Par (Urdu Dictionary: on historical principles). While appreciating the monumental work, the author of this paper has pointed out certain lacuna in the way many of the entries in Urdu Lughat published by UDB are explained. The author has also compared the explanatory wordings in UDB’s dictionary with some other dictionaries of Urdu and has explained what and which is correct and what errors have been committed by UDB editors. Although she is all-praise for the work, she has objectively evaluated some portions of UDB’s dictionary in the light of lexicographic rules
Working Paper 111 - Assessing Absolute and Relative Pro-Poor Growth: An Application to the MENA Region
No full textThis paper proposes a multidimensional test for a partial ordering over absolute and relative pro-poor judgements. It also investigates whether poverty comparisons can be made over classes of indices that incorporate both absolute and relative poverty standards. Besides being robust to whether pro-poor judgements should be absolute or relative, the partial ordering is also robust to choosing over a class of weights to aggregate the impact of growth on the poor, as well as over ranges of absolute and relative poverty lines. The test is applied to recent distributional changes in nine Middle-Eastern and North-African (MENA) countries that have witnessed different impacts of growth in the last two decades.
- …
