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Building Capacity through Rethinking Development

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This blog is maintained by the Growth and Crisis (GC ) Program of the World Bank Institute.

We bring you timely news, resources, tools, ideas and commentaries on issues related to the global economic crisis and growth.

Poverty Analysis

World Development Indicators 2009

Submitted by Ignacio on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 14:24

The World Development Indicators is the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development. The 2009 WDI includes more than 800 indicators in over 90 tables organized in 6 sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links.

WDI online database available for subscribers. Selected indicators can also be accessed for free with the quick query.

ECLAC's Statistics on Latin America and the Caribbean

Submitted by Ignacio on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 18:10

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has recently publish the 2008 edition of its Statistical Yearbook, which contains social, economic and environmental data from the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, including a section on Poverty.

Available in English and Spanish, on-line and also as a free download (2.78 MB)

Internet course: Advanced Poverty Analysis

Submitted by Ignacio on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 11:46

Advanced Poverty Analysis: Poverty Dynamics (November 24 - December 15, 2008)

This ten-session on-line course on poverty analysis, delivered by the World Bank Institute over a period of three weeks, will emphasize the measurement and interpretation of poverty dynamics.

The course will be structured as follows:

    Week 1:        Review of the basics of poverty analysis.
    Week 1- 2:   The measurement and interpretation of poverty dynamics.
    Week 3:        The quantification and analysis of vulnerability to poverty.

Full description of the course.

Apply on-line. Closing date for accepting nominations is October 31st, 2008.

Global Poverty Reassessed

Submitted by Ignacio on Tue, 09/23/2008 - 13:44

Two one pagers from UNDP's International Poverty Centre continue the discussion on the World Bank's Updated Poverty Estimates.

Sanjay Reddy thinks the World Bank is Digging Deeper into a Hole; Martin Ravaillon, Director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank,  replies.

Our colleagues from the PSD Blog already mentioned some reactions to the new poverty estimates.

Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA)

Submitted by Ignacio on Tue, 04/01/2008 - 17:38

April issue of the International Poverty Centre's Poverty in Focus is dedicated to Poverty and Social Impact Analysis.  PSIA: Gauging Poverty Impacts.

If you want to learn more about PSIA, check also the World Bank's PSIA website.

Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) and Poverty Impact Assessment (PIA) are recently developed tools for analysing the distributional impacts of policies, programmes and projects on the wellbeing of the population, with particular focus on the poor and vulnerable. Both approaches provide a comprehensive framework for analysis while drawing on a wide range of well established approaches and tools covering economic, social, political and institutional issues. The International Poverty Centre (IPC) is administering a joint UNDP-World Bank Project on PSIA. The overall objective is to promote capacities in developing countries for analytical work on the impact of national policies and use these results to influence poverty reduction strategies. This involves adjusting policy design in light of the impact of policies on poor women and men, and providing evidence to inform national policy dialogue.

Google maps + World Bank Data = Geo

Submitted by Ignacio on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 19:08

Geo, a new tool (still Beta) to provide easy access to country data, including projects, news and statistics.

Very useful.

Moving Out of Poverty

Submitted by Ignacio on Wed, 10/03/2007 - 16:29
Moving out of Poverty

 

The book Moving Out of Poverty: Cross Disciplinary Perspectives on Mobility was launched today at the World Bank in Washington with a Keynote Address by Charles Tilly, author of one of the chapters.

 

Edited by Deepa Narayan and Patti Petesch, this book "explores the topic of poor people’s mobility from the perspectives of diverse analytic traditions, country contexts and time horizons. The authors -- leading scholars and development practitioners from the fields of anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology -- not only critically examine the literature about poverty and mobility from their disciplines, but most contribute new conceptual models and evidence from their own works about how and why some people can escape poverty while many stay trapped."

(chapters summary)

 

Adept Poverty Analysis

Submitted by Ignacio on Tue, 09/18/2007 - 16:14

The World Bank's Development Research Group has recently launched a new software platform for automated, faster economic analysis.

 

According to our colleagues, the new software package, ADePT (Automated DEC Poverty Tables), "simplifies and speeds up routine poverty analysis and helps to minimize errors. It also introduces new techniques and methods of applied economic analysis to a wider audience. It can be used as a tool for sensitivity analysis, data checking, and as an educational tool. By producing a standard set of tables and graphs, the program allows comparisons of poverty statistics across countries."

 

ADePT is free and can be easily downloaded from the Bank's website.

 

More information, and installation instructions.

Analysing and Achieving Pro-Poor Growth

Submitted by Ignacio on Thu, 03/29/2007 - 08:13

The latest issue of UNDP International Poverty Centre's journal, Poverty in Focus, is fully devoted to the analysis of pro-poor growth and its policy implications and results. The authors spell out and apply different definitions and measures in discussing various policy-related aspects of pro-poor growth.

Featured articles:

  • Global Estimates of Pro-Poor Growth, by Hyun H. Son
  • Pro-Poor Growth and Gender Inequality: Insights from new research, by Stephan Klasen
  • Analysing the Distributional Pattern of Growth, by Andy McKay
  • Promoting Pro-Poor Growth: Lessons from country experiences, by Louise Cord
  • Integrated Economic Analysis for Pro-Poor Growth, by Susanna Lundström and Per Ronnas
  • Employment and Pro-Poor Growth, by Azizur Rahman Khan
  • Formalising Informal Firms: What can be done?, by Esther K. Ishengoma and Robert Kappel
  • The Policy Origins of Poverty and Growth in India, by Timothy Besley, Robert Burgess and Berta Esteve-Volart
  • Growth and Poverty in Asia: Prospects for achieving the MDGs, by John Farrington and Mark Robinson
  • Poverty, Inequality and Labour Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Germano Mwabu and Erik Thorbecke
  • Pro-Poor Stagnation: The Brazilian paradox, by  Nanak Kakwani, Marcelo Neri and Hyun H. Son
  • Ten Commandments of Pro-Poor Growth, by Mwangi S. Kimenyi

Online Atlas of the Millennium Development Goals

Submitted by Ignacio on Thu, 03/15/2007 - 08:11

Our colleagues from the Development Data Group at the World Bank have launched this online MDG Atlas.

 

Each map is supported by data tables, informative text, and charts in three languages: English, French, and Spanish.

 

Very useful, informative and easy to use. The option to have a map resized according to relative size of countries in relation to the various MDGs provides a very interesting and instant perspective.

 

Related: MDG website