A new working paper by Shahe Emran and Forhad Shilpi looks at the impact of increased agricultural productivity (e.g. through increased rainfall) on hired labor, wages and poverty. The paper finds a positive response of labor hours devoted to market activities as opposed to home production. Evidence also indicates that a positive rainfall shock increases per capita consumption significantly, thus implying that agricultural productivity increase played an important role in poverty reduction achieved in the last two decades in rural Bangladesh.
Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, and the theme for this year is 'Leave no one behind: think, decide and act together against extreme poverty.' Learn more, and follow on Twitter #endpoverty.
Chinese TV personality Yang Lan, President Kim, and Chief Economist Kaushik Basu had a candid conversation about the mechanics of achieving the World Bank Group's twin goals of ending extreme poverty, and boosting shared proserity.
Multiple groups in the World Bank discuss the data and measurement mechanics surrounding accurately gauging progress on the World Bank Group's twin goals. Read posts by Ana Revenga, Senior Director of the Poverty Global Practice and Peter Lanjouw, Research Manger. Let's Talk Development discusses the role of Purchasing Power Parity indices in estimating the incidence of global poverty
In an op-ed in the Financial Times, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim argues for universal health coverage, writing that "from 2000 to 2011 health investments were responsible for nearly a quarter of growth in developing countries." (Password required)
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