http://www.asiaportal.info/ The 20 newest items in the In Focus 2009 Week 41 collection at the Asia Portal en-us Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/1d90e440-00ab-489d-bc62-e900a7004eff http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/1d90e440-00ab-489d-bc62-e900a7004eff he Human Development Report (HDR) was first launched in 1990. Each Report focuses on a highly topical theme in the current development debate, providing path-breaking analysis and policy recommendations. National human development reports at the country level have been published in more than 120 nations. The Human Development Report is an independent report. It is commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is the product of a selected team of leading scholars, development practitioners and members of the Human Development Report Office of UNDP. The Report is translated into more than a dozen languages and launched in more than 100 countries annually. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/ef27cd57-712f-4d15-83b1-2e15b06c6ebb http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/ef27cd57-712f-4d15-83b1-2e15b06c6ebb website established jointly by the Chinese government and the World Bank http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/8601736a-f601-4663-a5ba-00abb7946361 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/8601736a-f601-4663-a5ba-00abb7946361 The World Economic Outlook (WEO) database contains selected macroeconomic data series from the statistical appendix of the World Economic Outlook report, which presents the IMF staff's analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups and in many individual countries. The WEO is released in April and September each year. Use this database to find data on national accounts, inflation, unemployment rates, balance of payments, fiscal indicators, trade for countries and country groups (aggregates), and commodity prices whose data are reported by the IMF. Data are available from 1980 to the present, and projections are given for the next two years. For some countries, data are incomplete or unavailable for certain years. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/7e585a15-9f05-45e1-aa55-ff263427419f http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/7e585a15-9f05-45e1-aa55-ff263427419f Published and maintained by Dr. Robinson Rojas, this site contains substantial information about economic and development issues in Chile, People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Latin America, South-East and East Asia. The archive contains papers and documents by the author and other writers, many of which are full text. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/6511969b-9285-40db-9ce0-238ef013c93b http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/6511969b-9285-40db-9ce0-238ef013c93b Information from the World Bank including data and statistics, publications and reports, development topics, projects and programs, distance learning centres as well as news and events. It is also possible to get specific country or topic information. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/957f0282-29ec-422f-b11f-a8fd381b94a8 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/957f0282-29ec-422f-b11f-a8fd381b94a8 Vulnerability, trust and microcredit : the case of China’s rural poor / Calum G. Turvey and Rong Kong. - Helsinki : UNU/WIDER, 2008. - 23 p.. - Research paper / United Nations University. World Institute for Development Economics Research (2008/52) This paper investigates the economic conditions of rural households in China. Historical survey data indicate that over 80 per cent of rural households earn less than 4,500 yuan in net disposable income each year, that for the vast majority of rural households disposable income is insufficient to meet food consumption needs, and that in terms of economic growth rural households are receiving an ever decreasing percentage of China’s growing economy with rural household incomes being only 31 per cent of urban household income in 2004. To reduce vulnerability and food insecurity, this paper investigates the role of microcredit in China. It is argued that in China the conventional wisdom is to provide credit using traditional means, but we provide a model that shows how a microcredit market based on trust can co-exist with a commercial collateral-based market. This model is developed in detail and certain propositions are supported using dominant strategies in a trust-honour game based on the prisoner’s dilemma. The theoretical model is then applied to the case of microlending in China. It explains why, in the absence of trust, rural credit corporations do not make loans to the very poor. Furthermore, the model explains how Central party policies on rural credit can actually crowd out micro finance institution (MFI) and NGO microlending in China, and also explains why moneylenders dominate in many of the poorer regions of the country. From a policy point of view, the theoretical model indicates that trust-based lending, coupled with certain incentives, can go far in supporting growth opportunities in rural China. It is argued that Chinese policy should be flexible enough to permit trust-based microlending to the poor, regardless of how counterintuitive this must appear to the conventional wisdom. Indeed, in the absence of flexible credit strategies, China’s rural poor will remain in a persistent food-insecure poverty gap. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/3aa0b05b-8832-4280-9e65-44400a07fe86 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/3aa0b05b-8832-4280-9e65-44400a07fe86 Fattigdom i Kina : de økonomiske reformer udrydder fattigdom, men skaber samtidig nye grupper af fattige / Kjeld Allan Larsen. - Kbh., 2009. - 41 s. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/3e6c05e7-342b-4986-8996-96aad8f52f6c http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/3e6c05e7-342b-4986-8996-96aad8f52f6c Altogether, the World Bank has supported China with $1.2 billion in financing for eight forestry projects covering 21 provinces since 1985. The long-term program has resulted in the establishment of over 3.8 million hectares of forest plantations -- an area roughly the size of Switzerland and about 12 percent of the country’s total plantations established over the same period. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/4d96c378-cf6e-4937-a7df-566a15e55f47 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/4d96c378-cf6e-4937-a7df-566a15e55f47 Linking globalization to poverty / Nachiko Nissanke and Erik Thorbecke. - Helsinki : UNU/WIDER, 200. - 78 p. - (Policy brief ; 2007/02) http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/03685a7b-e6b3-47d3-8b7f-2666daf82615 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/03685a7b-e6b3-47d3-8b7f-2666daf82615 Poverty and sustainability issues of microfinance in China : a case study in Fu'an, Fujian province / LiLian Lau. - Lund : Lund University, 2008. - 42 p. (Working papers in contemporary Asian studies ; 25) Microfinance has a unique position in China. Currently striving for recognition as a tool for poverty alleviation, microfinance programmes in China, and especially the NGO types, are competing with local rural credit cooperatives and other existing financial infrastructures to provide similar services. NGO microfinance programmes are currently at a crossroads as to where and how their existing organizations will lead to with issues on sustainability and on the dynamism of poverty in the landscape of an economy with double-digit growths. This thesis focuses on NGO type microfinance programmes and the challenges they face to survive and continue providing services for poverty alleviation. The notion of sustainability for microfinance programmes has been an indispensable discussion amongst international donors, academics and practitioners. The concern for China is that mainstream concepts of sustainability, especially in the achievement of financial sustainability, can misguide and discourage microfinance programmes from achieving its main objective of poverty alleviation. This thesis attempts to redefine the concept of sustainability so that microfinance programmes in China can continue to serve the financially marginalized. By empathizing the concept of poverty and bringing insights into various aspects of financial services in response to villagers’ needs based on a case study in Fu’an, Fujian Province, this thesis also illustrates the conditions unique in China for the design of products and improvements in the programmes which can contribute to the long term sustainability of microfinance programmes. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/c4dbd321-0d01-48de-9056-db0882577b50 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/c4dbd321-0d01-48de-9056-db0882577b50 China Development Brief is an independent publication established in 1996 to report on social development and civil society in China. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/c20b74ca-1284-4947-8af7-9cab5463cc69 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/c20b74ca-1284-4947-8af7-9cab5463cc69 The purpose of this paper is to examine the older people’s associations (OPA) model developed during HelpAge International’s implementation of a three-year project on poverty alleviation in Western China. The project OPA model aims to create more dynamic and active OPAs. The model was borrowed in part from HAI’s project work with OPAs in Cambodia and Vietnam. HelpAge International, Sep. 2007 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/a7fb2e87-52bc-43b4-99e0-050e8107abed http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/a7fb2e87-52bc-43b4-99e0-050e8107abed Poverty reduction in Chinais high growth enough? / Guanghua Wan. - Helsinki : UNU/WIDER, 2008. - 8 p. (Policy brief / United Nations University. World Institute for Development Economics Research ; 2008/04) The slowdown and in some years reversal of poverty reduction in China forcefully demonstrates that growth is not sufficient for combating poverty even if that growth is of unprecedented magnitude. Policy initiatives should take into consideration inequality, especially urban-rural disparity. This Policy Brief provides a summary of the research findings from UNU-WIDER’s project on Inequality and Poverty in China. It also offers policy recommendations for tackling the poverty-growth-inequality inter-relationships in the short- and long-run. In particular, it is suggested that the only long-run policy option for the Chinese government is to encourage urbanization. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/4cb59cf8-c7d8-4d12-88bc-3a4e4fd20af1 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/4cb59cf8-c7d8-4d12-88bc-3a4e4fd20af1 The March 2007 special issue of the Review of Income and Wealth focuses on regional poverty and inequality in China. This first paper provides a time profile of China's regional inequality by calculating a Theil-L index which suggests the need to tackle the urban-rural gap as a priority over regional gaps. The article then outlines the latest developments in inequality decomposition techniques. It also introduces the other six papers in the special issue: Globalisation and regional income inequality: empirical evidence from within China Forces shaping China's interprovincial inequality The urban-rural income gap and inequality in china Estimating income inequality in China using grouped data and the generalised beta distribution Gender earnings differentials and regional economic development in urban China, 1988 - 1997 Urban poverty in China and its contributing factors, 1986 - 2000 These are all available through the links to the right of this text.