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Social Science > Poverty and Homelessness

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This Selected Issues paper focuses on macro-critical issues related to governance and corruption in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Third-party indicators suggest that governance has been poor and corruption widespread in the country. Conducting an audit of the civil service and improving the transparency of its remuneration system, simplifying tax payment processes, and merging the activities of the numerous revenue agencies would boost public efficiency and improve the business environment. Contract enforcement and protection of property rights could be enhanced by insulating the courts from external influence. Limited information on the budget annexes and special accounts and little or no oversight by the central government, Parliament, and civil society, create scope for corruption. The multiplicity of special taxes and fees, some accruing to special accounts outside the Treasury, generate opportunities for corruption and informalization of economic activity. Despite some progress in strengthening public financial management, budget execution remains deficient. The government has formalized the four stages of the expenditure chain and introduced budget commitment plans to align expenditures with revenues.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Congo; country; government; DRC government expenditure; bank rating; natural resource; B. government strategy; resource sector; revenue agency; curse thesis; FBNBANK DRC; Mining sector; Natural resources; Budget planning and preparation; Corruption; Global; Southern Africa; Central Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Botswana: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund
Poverty and unemployment remained high in Botswana. The shortcomings of the labor market policies are responsible for a high unemployment rate. This selected issues paper sheds considerable light on ways that Botswana can enhance inclusive growth and reduce the high level of structural unemployment. Botswana was identified as having been able to sustain the highest economic growth compared with others in its league. Assessors suggest a prudent labor market for an overall sustained economic growth.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; SACU Compared; SACU country; income; Gini coefficient; Gini Coefficients Between SACU; SACU region; labor income; union density; cash earnings; SACU unemployment rate; SACU member; Income inequality; Labor markets; Unemployment rate; Unemployment; Income distribution; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Financial Deepening, Property Rights and Poverty: Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa
Mr. Yifei Huang
and
Mr. Raju J Singh
Recent studies on the relationship between financial development and poverty have been inconclusive. Some claim that, by allowing more entrepreneurs to obtain financing, financial development improves the allocation of capital, which has a particularly large impact on the poor. Others argue that it is primarily the rich and politically connected who benefit from improvements in the financial system. This paper looks at a sample of 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa from 1992 through 2006. Its results suggest that financial deepening could narrow income inequality and reduce poverty, and that stronger property rights reinforce these effects. Interest rate and lending liberalization alone could, however, be detrimental to the poor if not accompanied by institutional reforms, in particular stronger property rights and wider access to creditor information.
Keywords:
WP; Gini coefficient; GDP; financial development; poverty alleviation; income distribution; Africa; poverty gap; poverty indicator; dependent variable; allocation mechanism; decrease poverty; absolute value; positive correlation; Financial sector development; Credit; Income inequality; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Solow Versus Harrod-Domar: Reexamining the Aid Costs of the First Millennium Development Goal
Carl-Johan Dalgaard
and
Mr. Lennart Erickson
The First Millennium Development Goal (MDG#1) is to cut the fraction of global population living on less than one dollar per day in half, by 2015. Foreign aid financed investments may contribute to the attainment of this goal. But how much can aid be reasonably expected to accomplish? A widespread calibration approach to answering this question is to employ the so-called development planning technique, which has the Harrod-Domar growth model at its base. Two particularly problematic assumptions in this sort of analysis are the absence of diminishing returns to capital input and an infinite speed of adjustment to steady state after a shock to the economy. We remove both of these assumptions by employing a Solow model as an organizing framework for an otherwise similar analysis. We find that in order to successfully meet the MDG#1 in the context of the currently proposed aid flows, these flows will have to be accompanied by either an acceleration in the underlying productivity growth rate or a major boost to domestic savings and investment in sub-Saharan Africa. In the absence of such changes in the economic environment, the MDG#1 is unlikely to be reached.
Keywords:
WP; production function; mover accent; capital goods