The poorest and hungry: assessments, analyses, and actions

Although many millions of people have exited poverty in recent decades, much of the reduction in poverty has benefited people living close to the poverty line rather than those at the very bottom of the income distribution. This book seeks to lay out the major issues involved in realising improvements in the welfare of the world’s poorest people.

The authors believe policy instruments that could be useful in reducing poverty and hunger include public investments aimed at promoting pro-poor growth, redistributive policies, and social safety nets. Yet, countries must use their public investment resources more efficiently, which requires improved targeting to achieve growth and poverty alleviation goals.

Conclusions are as follows:

• the most effective way to boost a country’s resource mobilisation effort aiming at supporting poverty reduction is to improve its tax system
• spending on agricultural research, education, and rural infrastructure are the three most effective types of public spending for promoting agricultural growth and reducing poverty
• as a result, the government should cut subsidies on inputs and output and increase investments in these three areas
• the efficiency of the current public irrigation system should be improved by reforming public institutions and governance
• different spending priorities are needed during different stages of development; “one-size-fits-all” strategies do not work
  

The paper illustrates that strategies should focus primarily on reducing widespread poverty through broad-based economic growth that reaches rural areas. In subsequent phases, more direct attention should be focused on lagging sectors and regions, as well as on poverty at the community and household levels.

Notably, the document points that it is often the low-cost types of infrastructure that may have the highest payoffs in terms of poverty reduction.