Without the food stamp program, the poverty gap in Jamaica would have been much worse during the early 1990s, when the Jamaican dollar was being devalued. Households with elderly members and young children benefited most from the program.Ezemenari and Subbarao examine how the food stamp program...

Considerations of risk and vulnerability are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty. Christiaensen and Subbarao conceive vulnerability as expected poverty and illustrate a methodology to empirically assess household vulnerability using pseudo panel data derived from repeated cross sections...

This paper analyses the benefits from female education (who gains and in what ways) and the constraints (direct and opportunity costs, reflecting economics and tradition). It then outlines promising approaches for increasing female education. The demand for female education can be strengthened...

This study examines the impact of India's Public Distribution System (PDS) on poor households in terms of income gains, reductions in the incidence and severity of poverty, as well as nutritional improvements. The study suggests that the welfare gains of PDS in terms of income transfer were very...

Considerations of risk and vulnerability are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty. This study conceives vulnerability as expected poverty and illustrates a methodology to empirically assess household vulnerability using pseudo panel data derived from repeated cross sections augmented...

The study begins by stressing three points. First, the number of orphans is growing at an alarming rate, and therefore the vulnerabilities associated with orphanhood require immediate attention. Second, because resources are limited and not all orphans are in need of assistance, there is an...

From the Victorian poor laws in nineteenth century Britain to the post-war recovery of the 1940s, public works programs have historically played an important role as countercyclical interventions to address seasonal and short-term unemployment. In recent times, the role of public works has...

The note is based on the "Social Protection of Africa's Orphans and vulnerable children" study, which looks at HIV/AIDS, and the violent conflicts that are giving rise to a massive generation of orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa. The region currently has about 12 million orphans, most under the age...