Middle-income Countries Policy Guide: Addressing chronic poverty in middle-income countries: getting close to zero

Middle-income countries (MICs) are home to the majority of the world’s extremely poor people. However, some have also achieved remarkable success in reducing chronic poverty, and have been a source of inspiration for developing countries as a whole.

This Policy Guide is targeted to policymakers in middle- and lower-income Countries (MICs and LICs) who would like to be inspired and learn lessons from the countries that have reduced chronic poverty as part of their efforts to accelerate structural transformation and achieve a higher growth path. The Guide provides recommendations on how countries can replicate this achievement using lessons learnt from ten selected MICs with greatest poverty reduction record since 1990 (Cape Verde, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Senegal, Viet Nam, Brazil, China, Thailand and Tunisia). Evidence is analysed to identify the policies, strategies and political trajectories that have characterised their route out of extreme poverty.

Authors: Dominik Bulla, Abdou Salam Fall, Haris Gazdar, Medhi Krongkaew, Amanda Lenhardt, Sami Mouley, Alina Rocha Menocal, Andrew Shepherd and Chiara Mariotti

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This policy brief highlights the importance of making poverty eradication an overarching goal of the post 2015 process, with other goal areas such as employment, education and social assistance all making a contribution towards it, rather than focusing on poverty eradication policies alone.

Authors: Andrew Shepherd, Lucy Scott and Chiara Mariotti.

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The Chronic Poverty Report 2014-15: The road to zero poverty

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Authors: Andrew Shepherd, Lucy Scott, Chiara Mariotti, Flora Kessy, Raghav Gaiha, Lucia da Corta, Katharina Hanifnia, Nidhi Kaicker, Amanda Lenhardt, Charles Lwanga-Ntale, Binayak Sen,
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This paper uses panel data analysis to assess whether people that have escaped poverty have remained above the poverty line or have fallen back below it. It suggests a range of policies that can ensure that poverty escapes are more resilient.

Authors: Lucy Scott, Katharina Hanifnia, Andrew Shepherd, Milu Muyanga and Elsa Valli.

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India Chronic Poverty Report: Towards Solutions and New Compacts in a Dynamic Context

The report has looked at the large numbers of programmes and schemes in various forms that over the years aimed at poverty alleviation in India, some targeting specific groups, to try and identify why they have not succeeded to the desired extent. Design flaws, weak implementation, inadequate provision of funds, and the inability of the poor to access scheme benefits, are amongst many factors identified and analyzed.

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The State of the Poorest in Bangladesh: tales of ascent, descent, marginality and persistence

Bangladesh has come out of the "shadow of famine", the problem of starvation still persists. Accurate figures are not available for urban areas, but in effect between 25 to 30 million of the country's citizens are chronically poor. Here we review the present status and situation of the poorest, analyse the main factors that keep them in poverty and identify the types of policy that can help them escape deprivation and gain their full rights as citizens of an increasingly prosperous and high-stepping country.

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