Risks to Poverty, Vulnerability, and Inequality from COVID-19

Risks to Poverty, Vulnerability, and Inequality from COVID-19
Author: World Bank Group
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

Nepal made significant progress on poverty and shared prosperity over the period 1996-2010, despite low domestic growth. With consistently high rates of vulnerability and exposure to a range of shocks, the risk of falling back into poverty has remained an enduring feature of the welfare narrative in Nepal. The past decade, from 2010 to 2020, has been characterized by a series of economic shocks that took place against a background of a prolonged political transition towards federalism in Nepal. These shocks were also correlated with declines in economic growth. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, which started in March 2020, is the latest in the series of economic shocks over the last decade which has adversely affected Nepal's economy and labor market; and it is likely to have had adverse welfare effects. However, the lack of data on welfare dynamics during this period has made it difficult to track the impacts of these shocks on households, workers and firms. This light poverty assessment is organized as follows: Section 1 describes the data challenges, and highlights the evolution of measures of non-monetary welfare, pre-COVID; section 2 provides an overview of the impacts of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nepal; and section 3 highlights the role of pre-existing vulnerabilities and structural issues in making the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis more costly to welfare in the short run, and in potentially deepening inequalities in the longer run.

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-12-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464816034

This edition of the biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity report brings sobering news. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its associated economic crisis, compounded by the effects of armed conflict and climate change, are reversing hard-won gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The fight to end poverty has suffered its worst setback in decades after more than 20 years of progress. The goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, already at risk before the pandemic, is now beyond reach in the absence of swift, significant, and sustained action, and the objective of advancing shared prosperity—raising the incomes of the poorest 40 percent in each country—will be much more difficult. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune presents new estimates of COVID-19's impacts on global poverty and shared prosperity. Harnessing fresh data from frontline surveys and economic simulations, it shows that pandemic-related job losses and deprivation worldwide are hitting already poor and vulnerable people hard, while also shifting the profile of global poverty to include millions of 'new poor.' Original analysis included in the report shows that the new poor are more urban, better educated, and less likely to work in agriculture than those living in extreme poverty before COVID-19. It also gives new estimates of the impact of conflict and climate change, and how they overlap. These results are important for targeting policies to safeguard lives and livelihoods. It shows how some countries are acting to reverse the crisis, protect those most vulnerable, and promote a resilient recovery. These findings call for urgent action. If the global response fails the world's poorest and most vulnerable people now, the losses they have experienced to date will be minimal compared with what lies ahead. Success over the long term will require much more than stopping COVID-19. As efforts to curb the disease and its economic fallout intensify, the interrupted development agenda in low- and middle-income countries must be put back on track. Recovering from today's reversals of fortune requires tackling the economic crisis unleashed by COVID-19 with a commitment proportional to the crisis itself. In doing so, countries can also plant the seeds for dealing with the long-term development challenges of promoting inclusive growth, capital accumulation, and risk prevention—particularly the risks of conflict and climate change.

Covid-19 and Global Inequalities

Covid-19 and Global Inequalities
Author: Victor J. Seidler
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781003296874

"This book provides a timely autoethnography tracing the spread of the novel coronavirus, now known as Covid-19, as it emerged and travelled across the world. Following the virus in real time, it explores the fears, risks and responses to the global pandemic, and how it has shaped our everyday lives against the backdrop of the growing climate crisis. Social theorist Victor Jeleniewski Seidler discusses fundamental questions of inequality and injustice regarding race, class and gender that the pandemic has made visible, through the differing risks, vulnerabilities and protections provided by legislative measures. Situated across disciplinary boundaries, the text investigates values, ethics, responsibilities and uncertain futures created by the global health crisis, analysing media and communications strategies and government responses from the UK, and comparing them with political communications around the world. Throughout the book questions are raised around anticipating the pandemic, drawing on cultural histories and experiences in its critical analysis. In its conclusion it connects the global impacts of Covid-19 to the climate emergency and reveals how we are responsible for shaping new economic, political and ecological imaginations that focus on sustainability in planetary terms. This wide-reaching volume will appeal to a broad academic readership in environmental studies, health studies, cultural studies, sociology, gender studies, media and communication"--

Covid-19 and Global Inequalities

Covid-19 and Global Inequalities
Author: Victor Jeleniewski Seidler
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2024-03-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1003857078

This timely and powerful autoethnography traces the spread of and responses to Covid-19: from the uncertainty surrounding its outbreak, to its devastating and continued aftermath. Following the virus in real time, it explores the fears, risks and responses to the global pandemic, and how it has shaped our everyday lives against the backdrop of social and political upheaval, and the looming climate crisis. Social theorist and moral philosopher, Victor Jeleniewski Seidler, discusses fundamental questions of inequality and injustice regarding race, class and gender brought to the fore by the visibility of varying risk levels, vulnerabilities and protections provided by legislative measures against the virus. This interdisciplinary analysis scrutinises values, ethics, responsibilities and uncertain futures formed by the global health crisis, and evaluates media and communications strategies, government responses and political communications at domestic and international levels. Seidler shares critical insights into the cultural history of pandemics, highlighting lessons to be learned from anticipating, preparing for and enduring moments of crisis. Perceiving how the pandemic and climate emergency are interwoven, the book concludes with an urgent call to rebuild sustainable economic, political and ecological imaginations. This wide-reaching volume will appeal to a broad academic readership in environmental studies, sociology, philosophy, health studies, cultural studies, gender studies, media and communication.

Health at a Glance: Europe 2020 State of Health in the EU Cycle

Health at a Glance: Europe 2020 State of Health in the EU Cycle
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2020-11-19
Genre:
ISBN: 926481194X

The 2020 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe focuses on the impact of the COVID‐19 crisis. Chapter 1 provides an initial assessment of the resilience of European health systems to the COVID-19 pandemic and their ability to contain and respond to the worst pandemic in the past century.

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2018-12-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464813604

The World Bank Group has two overarching goals: End extreme poverty by 2030 and promote shared prosperity by boosting the incomes of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each economy. As this year’s Poverty and Shared Prosperity report documents, the world continues to make progress toward these goals. In 2015, approximately one-tenth of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, and the incomes of the bottom 40 percent rose in 77 percent of economies studied. But success cannot be taken for granted. Poverty remains high in Sub- Saharan Africa, as well as in fragile and conflict-affected states. At the same time, most of the world’s poor now live in middle-income countries, which tend to have higher national poverty lines. This year’s report tracks poverty comparisons at two higher poverty thresholds—$3.20 and $5.50 per day—which are typical of standards in lower- and upper-middle-income countries. In addition, the report introduces a societal poverty line based on each economy’s median income or consumption. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle also recognizes that poverty is not only about income and consumption—and it introduces a multidimensional poverty measure that adds other factors, such as access to education, electricity, drinking water, and sanitation. It also explores how inequality within households could affect the global profile of the poor. All these additional pieces enrich our understanding of the poverty puzzle, bringing us closer to solving it. For more information, please visit worldbank.org/PSP

Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis

Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis
Author: Sabina Alkire
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2015-06-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0191003638

Multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis is evolving rapidly. Notably, it has informed the publication of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) estimates in the Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme since 2010, and the release of national poverty measures in Mexico, Colombia, Bhutan, the Philippines and Chile. The academic response has been similarly swift, with related articles published in both theoretical and applied journals. The high and insistent demand for in-depth and precise accounts of multidimensional poverty measurement motivates this book, which is aimed at graduate students in quantitative social sciences, researchers of poverty measurement, and technical staff in governments and international agencies who create multidimensional poverty measures. The book is organized into four elements. The first introduces the framework for multidimensional measurement and provides a lucid overview of a range of multidimensional techniques and the problems each can address. The second part gives a synthetic introduction of 'counting' approaches to multidimensional poverty measurement and provides an in-depth account of the counting multidimensional poverty measurement methodology developed by Alkire and Foster, which is a straightforward extension of the well-known Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty measures that had a significant and lasting impact on income poverty measurement. The final two parts deal with the pre-estimation issues such as normative choices and distinctive empirical techniques used in measure design, and the post-estimation issues such as robustness tests, statistical inferences, comparisons over time, and assessments of inequality among the poor.

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016
Author: World Bank Group
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2016-10-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464809798

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016 is the first of an annual flagship report that will inform a global audience comprising development practitioners, policy makers, researchers, advocates, and citizens in general with the latest and most accurate estimates on trends in global poverty and shared prosperity. This edition will also document trends in inequality and identify recent country experiences that have been successful in reducing inequalities, provide key lessons from those experiences, and synthesize the rigorous evidence on public policies that can shift inequality in a way that bolsters poverty reduction and shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. Specifically, the report will address the following questions: • What is the latest evidence on the levels and evolution of extreme poverty and shared prosperity? • Which countries and regions have been more successful in terms of progress toward the twin goals and which are lagging behind? • What does the global context of lower economic growth mean for achieving the twin goals? • How can inequality reduction contribute to achieving the twin goals? • What does the evidence show concerning global and between- and within-country inequality trends? • Which interventions and countries have used the most innovative approaches to achieving the twin goals through reductions in inequality? The report will make four main contributions. First, it will present the most recent numbers on poverty, shared prosperity, and inequality. Second, it will stress the importance of inequality reduction in ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity by 2030 in a context of weaker growth. Third, it will highlight the diversity of within-country inequality reduction experiences and will synthesize experiences of successful countries and policies, addressing the roots of inequality without compromising economic growth. In doing so, the report will shatter some myths and sharpen our knowledge of what works in reducing inequalities. Finally, it will also advocate for the need to expand and improve data collection—for example, data availability, comparability, and quality—and rigorous evidence on inequality impacts in order to deliver high-quality poverty and shared prosperity monitoring.

COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities

COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities
Author: J. Michael Ryan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2022-03-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000537269

COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities examines the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals, communities, and countries, a fact seldom acknowledged and often suppressed or invisible. Taking a global approach, this book demonstrates how the impact of the pandemic has differed as a result of social inequalities, such as economic development, social class, race and ethnicity, sex and gener, age, and access to health care and education. Economic inequality between and within nations has significantly contributed to the chances of individuals contracting and dying from the virus. Developing nations with weak health care systems, workers whose jobs cannot be performed remotely, the differences between those with and without access to soap and water to wash their hands, or the ability to practice physical distancing also account for the unequal impact of the virus. Racial and ethnic minorities experience higher death rates from the virus, which has also unequally affected indigenous peoples and urban and foreign migrants around the world. Inequality is also embedded in national and international responses to the pandemic, as giving and receiving aid is often impacted by inequalities of demographic and national power and influence, resulting in national and global competition rather than the collaboration needed to end the pandemic. Along with the other titles in Routledge’s COVID-19 Pandemic series, this book represents a timely and critical advance in knowledge related to what many believe to be the greatest threat to global ways of being in more than a century. COVID-19: Social Inequalities and Human Possibilities is therefore indispensable for academics, researchers, and students as well as activists and policy makers interested in understanding the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and eradicating the inequalities it has exacerbated.

Vulnerability and Resilience to Natural Hazards

Vulnerability and Resilience to Natural Hazards
Author: Sven Fuchs
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2018-03-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107154898

A comprehensive overview of the concepts of vulnerability and resilience for natural hazards research for both physical and social scientists.