scholarly journals Universal Basic Income in the Developing World

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 959-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijit Banerjee ◽  
Paul Niehaus ◽  
Tavneet Suri
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Extreme Poverty ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Positive Results

Should developing countries give all of their citizens enough money to live on? Interest in this idea has grown enormously in recent years, reflecting both positive results from a number of existing cash transfer programs and dissatisfaction with the perceived limitations of piecemeal, targeted approaches to reducing extreme poverty. We discuss what we know (and what we do not) about three questions: what recipients would likely do with the incremental income, whether this would unlock further economic growth, and whether giving the money to everyone (as opposed to targeting it) would be wise.

scholarly journals Just End Poverty Now: The Case for a Global Minimum Income

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Global Minimum ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Extreme Poverty ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Poor Person ◽  
Moral System ◽  
The Rich

Abstract Global GDP is more than 100 trillion dollars, yet 10 % of the world’s population still live in extreme poverty on less than $1.90 per day. No one should have to live like that: alleviating poverty is a minimal moral obligation implied by nearly every secular and religious moral system. Unfortunately, neither economic growth nor conventional international aid can be relied upon to fulfil this obligation. A global basic income programme that transferred $1 per day from the rich world to each poor person would eliminate extreme poverty directly and at negligible cost. It is the least we should do.

Social Protection and the Pandemic in the MENA Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 119 (821) ◽  
pp. 356-361
Author(s):  
Rana Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
Emergency Measures

Nations in the Middle East and North Africa have traditionally seen the primary function of social policy as serving the goal of economic growth. But the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for a more balanced approach to make societies more resilient, with social protection policies that provide citizens with basic security throughout their lives. Beyond cash transfer programs and other emergency measures, governments should recognize the need for universal provision of health care and other essential assistance. Otherwise they risk leaving the Arab Spring’s popular demands for dignity unheeded.

scholarly journals The Digital Divide in Developing Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 115-139
Author(s):  
Yogeeswari Subramaniam ◽  
◽  
Tajul Masron ◽  
Nik Hadiyan ◽  
Siti Hassan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Extreme Poverty ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Development Support

Poverty has been a critical issue for a long time and continues to affect developing countries in the era of booming digitalization. This study investigates the contribution of digitalization to poverty alleviation, confirming that it can promote economic growth. However, utilizing a sample of 37 developing countries in 2014 and 2016, this study observes that the extremely poor are deprived of their share of the benefits that digitalization can offer. Therefore, while strategies to further promote digitalization are critical to economic development, support systems or policies meant to bring those in extreme poverty into mainstream development are badly needed.

scholarly journals Risks of Simultaneous Co-Infection of Dengue and COVID-19 in Bangladesh: Challenges and Recommendations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Sahidur Rahman ◽  
Tazrina Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social System ◽  
Monsoon Season ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Screening Tests ◽  
Dengue Outbreak ◽  
Peak Transmission ◽  
Positive Results

The current global COVID-19 pandemic is compounding on populations susceptible to tropical illnesses like dengue in different developing countries like Bangladesh. The growing concern is that Bangladesh is a dengue-endemic zone and the peak transmission occurs in the monsoon season (June to October). In the most recent monsoon, a total of 354 dengue cases have been confirmed until 27th July 2020, data-driven from only 41 hospitals alone. A fifty-three-year-old male patient was found to be co-infected with COVID-19 and dengue fever. Concerns arise as hospitals are increasingly denying to admit the patients. Moreover, reports of the false-positive results in dengue screening tests recorded in different countries further exacerbate the issue. These conditions could postpone the early diagnosis of COVID-19 cases and aggravate the situation. In addition, the overwhelming wave of the dengue cases would be a challenge for the vulnerable health care system of the country which is already under strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to establish and implement proper policies might lead to the dengue outbreak with the burdens of the concurrent COVID pandemic, resulting in the collapse of the health and social system, as well as the economic growth of the country.

scholarly journals Universal Basic Incomes versus Targeted Transfers: Anti-Poverty Programs in Developing Countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 201-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rema Hanna ◽  
Benjamin A. Olken
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
National Level ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Optimal Income Taxation ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Income Data ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Using Data

Of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals articulated by the United Nations, number one is the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030. While future economic growth should continue to reduce poverty, it will not solve the problem by itself; thus, there is a potentially important role for national-level transfer programs that assist poor families in developing countries. Such programs are often run by developing country governments. Many countries have implemented transfer programs that seek to target beneficiaries: that is, to identify who is poor and then to restrict transfers to those individuals. Some people have begun to advocate for “universal basic income” programs, which dispense with trying to identify the poor and instead provide transfers to everyone. We begin by considering the universal basic income as part of the solution to an optimal income-taxation problem, focusing on the case of developing countries, where there is limited income data and inclusion in the formal tax system is low. We examine how the targeting of transfer programs is conducted in these settings, and provide empirical evidence on the tradeoffs involved between universal basic income and targeted transfer schemes using data from Indonesia and Peru—two countries that run nationwide transfer programs that are targeted to the poor. We conclude by linking our findings back to the broader policy debate on what tools should be preferred for redistribution, as well as the practical challenges of administering them in developing countries.

Government Investment and Economic Growth in the Developing World (The Distinguishedl Lecture)

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (4I) ◽  
pp. 419-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsin S. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Government Investment ◽  
The Government

There has been a sea change in the views of the economics profession as well as economic policy-makers over the past decade or so regarding the role of the government in the development process. Indeed, it is now becoming conventional wisdom that government can no longer be a dominant player in economic activities, but rather should restrict itself to providing an “enabling” environment within which the private sector can take the lead and flourish. More specifically, government intervention in the economy has to be designed carefully so as to support the private sector and not inhibit its development. The general acceptance of this paradigm is evident in the steadily declining importance of government activities in the economies of most of the developing world. But does this new paradigm mean that government investment has no role whatsoever in affecting growth in developing countries? Reality is that public investment still represents a large share of total investment in the majority of developing countries, and the question is what role it plays in relation to private investment in stimulating economic growth. The objective of this paper is to ascertain empirically for a large group of developing countries the relative importance of public and private investment in promoting and sustaining growth.

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