The poverty penalty refers to the relatively higher cost shouldered by the poor, when compared to the non-poor, in their participation in certain markets. By trying to further develop this concept, this paper clarifies some of the subtle and more direct ways through which the poor could be...

The paper uses data from the Village Potential Surveys (PODES) (63 000 villages, surveyed in 1996 and 2000) to show the lessons that can be learned in responding to economic crisis from Indonesia's Social Safety Net Program or Jaring Pengaman Sosial (JPS). It focuses on the JPS scholarship...