Workfare programs aim to reduce poverty by providing low-wage work for those who need it. They are often turned to in a crisis when there is too little time for a rigorous evaluation. They are also relatively complex programs, and difficult to evaluate. The author offers some simple analytical...

The authors show how subjective poverty lines can be derived using simple qualitative assessments of perceived consumption adequacy, based on a household survey. Respondents were asked whether their consumption of food, housing, and clothing was adequate for their family's needs. The author's...

The author studies how well a federal antipoverty program reaches poor areas, taking the reactions of lower levels of government into account. He studies performance in reaching poor areas before and after World Bank-sponsored reforms in Argentina's anitpoverty program. Program resources were...

The authors characterize poverty in Sri Lanka, using data from two recent household surveys (for 1985-86 and1990-91). Poverty rates in 1990-91 were highest in the rural sector and lowest in the estate sector, with the urban sector in between. Between 1985-86 and 1990-91, national poverty...

Cote d'Ivoire conducted household surveys between 1985 and 1995, making it possible to trace changes in urban and rural poverty and changes in poverty among different socioeconomic groups. During the decade surveyed, the country experienced a major recession. Poverty increased substantially and...

This study addresses the question of how well Hungary's system of cash social transfers helps prevent or alleviate poverty -whether different types of social transfer, or changes in eligibility rules, might better alleviate poverty. The social safety net in Hungary and other transition economies...

Comparisons of poverty rates are only rarely based on identical underlying definitions of welfare. The authors examine the sensitivity of poverty rates calculated from alternative definitions of consumption. They consider what theory can say about the direction of bias in comparisons and show...

The authors profile Nigerian poverty, showing its evolution from 1985 to 1992. This paper is divided into 6 sections, beginning with an overview. Section 2 looks at the sources of data used. Section 3 examines household income and expenditure distribution, interprets poverty indices, and...

The author observes that famine, defined as widespread hunger or starvation, has occurred in most parts of the world in the twentieth century. Famines are more avoidable now than ever before. Famines defy simple explanations and geographic boundaries. They have occurred under both socialist and...