Unfavourable Environment and Chronic Poverty: Some Preliminary Findings, PRCPB Working Paper No. 5

Abstract

Charting the factors that are associated with transition in the poverty status of a household should help us to understand the processes that create or erode chronic poverty and relate these to policy and action. In general, research should focus primarily on those who experience or are likely to experience poverty for extended periods of time, and the processes that keep them poor. This is not to deny, however, that while \'long duration\' is the key criterion, chronic poverty can often be multi-dimensional and severe. While poverty trends are of interest, the prime focus of research should be on the poverty dynamics of individuals, households and social groups. It should be recognized that the chronic poor are heterogeneous group and must be studied at individual, household (intra and inter) and social group levels. They include those experiencing deprivation because of their stage in the life cycle, those who are socially discriminated against (within the household, community or nation), those with impairment and health problem, and people living in remote rural areas and/or ecologically unfavourable areas. Generally, the chronic poor experience several forms of disadvantage at the same time - gender, age, ethnicity and location. In this paper, however, we shall concentrate on the latter i.e. how the locational factors contribute to perpetuation of chronic poverty in these areas