A growing impact evaluation literature on antipoverty transfer programmes in low- and middle-income countries measures changes utilitarian terms, at their unit value. The paper argues that valuing transfers is more appropriately done within a framework of prioritarian social welfare functions, as the very presence these indicates polities place greater value gains losses among disadvantaged. ap...

The history of the Chinese government’s more recent poverty reduction programs may be divided into three stages. During the first stage, from 1978 to 1985, the government, through higher product prices, encouraged rural households to raise agricultural output. As a result, greater agricultural output translated into increases in the incomes of farm households. Official poverty incidence decline...

In the 1960s, a new idea for combating poverty emerged that promised a revolutionary change for American social welfare policy. Though the idea had a complex history, one of its main justifications was articulated by a commis­ sion appointed by President Johnson to evaluate the nation’s antipoverty pro­ grams. The commission, which was made up primarily of business leaders and economists, issue...

This article provides a brief review of current large-scale, longitudinal data collection initiatives focusing on children. These studies will be available for secondary data analyses in the twenty-first century. In addition to child outcome data, process-oriented information is being collected on child-parent interactions, quality of child care, elementary school teacher reports and classroom ...

The Census Bureau released a report in April 1982 showing that if in-kind income from government programs--food stamps, subsidized school lunches, Public Housing, Medicare and Medicaid--is valued and added to money incomes, then poverty in 1979 was substantially less than the 11.1 percent of persons the Census had previously reported. This paper assesses the implications of that report for the ...