POVERTY ALLEVIATION POLICIES FOR ACHIEVING INCLUSIVE GROWTH: EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

The Singapore Economic ReviewVol. 68, No. 04, pp. 1059-1062 (2023) Free AccessPOVERTY ALLEVIATION POLICIES FOR ACHIEVING INCLUSIVE GROWTH: EDITORIAL INTRODUCTIONFarhad Taghizadeh-HesaryFarhad Taghizadeh-HesarySchool of Global Studies, Tokai University, JapanTokai Research Institute for Environment and Sustainability, TRIES, Japanhttps://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590823030017Cited by:0 Next This article is part of the issue: Special Issue on Poverty Alleviation for Inclusive GrowthGuest Editor: Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary, Tokai University AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsRecommend to Librarian ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Poverty alleviation, inclusive growth and sustainable development are inseparable, and poverty alleviation is the premise for sustainable development. Poverty in all its forms remains one of humanity’s most significant challenges (Taghizadeh-Hesary et al., 2021). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a bold commitment to finish what we started and end poverty in all forms and dimensions by 2030.Global extreme poverty rose in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years as the disruption of COVID-19. In 2020, around 120 million people fell into poverty as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on economies and societies. The pace of poverty reduction decelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic downturns. The COVID-19 crisis risks reversed decades of progress in the fight against poverty and pushed millions of people back into poverty (UNU-WIDER, 2020).Therefore due to the current global economic status, the world is not on track to end poverty by 2030. Given the above-mentioned situation, if we plan to end poverty in line with SDG 1, governments must reconsider their policies and allocate resources for this aim.This special issue aimed to provide several studies that formulate policies on achieving poverty reduction goals for inclusive and sustainable development. This special issue provides several empirical studies on the roles of financial inclusion, financial development, financial education, infrastructure, knowledge and human capital, remittance, energy security and economic growth in poverty reduction and inclusive growth. The papers of this special issue provide practical policy recommendations for shaping development policies on poverty alleviation, especially in the developing world.This special issue consists of 18 papers.In the first paper, Taghizadeh-Hesary et al. examine the role of energy security in poverty reduction in a sample of least-developed Asian economies. They postulate an energy security index and found a negative relationship between energy security and poverty reduction, suggesting that energy security helps reduce poverty. They conclude that energy security promotes sustainable poverty alleviation and recommend practical policies.In the second paper, Zhao and Rasoulinezhad explore how the COVID-19 pandemic affected poverty in different Asian sub-regions. Their empirical results reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic is a severe challenge to poverty in these regions. The impacts of the pandemic on poverty are more minor for larger or developed economies in Asia than smaller or less-developed economies.In the third paper, Dou et al. investigate the impact of natural disasters on energy poverty. Their main findings indicate that natural disasters deteriorate the energy poverty status, and this impact is asymmetric. Furthermore, technological innovation and renewable energy can reduce the positive impact of natural disasters on energy poverty.In the fourth paper, Xu et al. investigate the impact of financial literacy on rural households’ poverty reduction, considering current and long-term economic income dynamics. They find that financial literacy has current and long-term effects on promoting Chinese rural households’ status by eliminating and effectively reducing poverty. This study also reveals that financial literacy and education significantly complement rural households’ poverty reduction.In the fifth paper, Lu and Dilanchiev analyze the effect of financial deepening on poverty reduction in the emerging Black Sea market economies. They find a significant causal relationship between domestic loans to the private sector (DPS) and per capita household consumption expenditure (HCE) in most countries. They conclude that DPS increases per capita HCE and effectively reduces poverty.In the sixth paper, Shi assesses the associations between financial development and poverty reduction in South Asian economies. The results show that financial and economic development significantly reduced poverty in this region. The paper suggests that rising poverty may result from financial instability.In the seventh paper, Wang et al. analyze the relationship between economic development and rural energy poverty in Chinese regions. Using statistics from the China Families Panel Studies, it was first observed that drought increased the poverty risk. On the other hand, the country’s energy poverty is reduced by advancing economic development to a specific degree.In the eighth paper, Liu and Chang explore financial technology’s effect on poverty alleviation in Asian countries. This research reveals that despite an uneven index of financial technology development across Asian economies, financial technology significantly impacts poverty alleviation in selected Asian economies, and this impact is bolder in developing countries.In the ninth paper, Chen and Li explore the impact of targeted poverty alleviation actions of listed companies on the stock price crash risk. Results show that listed companies participating in targeted poverty alleviation exhibited a lower risk of stock price crash risk; this conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests.In the 10th paper, Kong et al. examine the effect of agricultural insurance financial subsidy policies on food security. The agricultural insurance subsidies significantly affect food security, with the most noticeable improvements in the northeast region. Reform and redesign of the subsidy system for greater flexibility and coverage are needed to safeguard food security.In the 11th paper, Li et al. evaluate the role of education and human capital in poverty reduction and inclusive growth in South Asia. The study finds a bi-directional Granger causality between schooling and lower poverty. They also found that disparity in the wages and payment system is one of the reasons behind the poverty in this region.In the 12th paper, Chen and Kuang study the impact of infrastructure improvement on poverty reduction. They find that infrastructure development significantly impacts reducing poverty levels. Boosting infrastructure investment might be vital to promoting poverty reduction. At the same time, more outstanding performance in the public sector may result in a more effective allocation of resources toward building extensive infrastructure.In the 13th paper, Chinnakum investigates the impacts of financial inclusion on poverty and income inequality in 27 developing countries in Asia. The results show that financial inclusion can influence poverty and income inequality reduction. The empirical findings also reveal the contribution of economic growth in decreasing income disparity in helping improve the standard of living of poor households.In the 14th paper, Ge et al. investigate the impact of the construction of large-scale high-speed railways (HSRs) on regional multidimensional poverty in China. They find that the opening of HSRs can reduce the multidimensional poverty indicator. Opening HSRs can improve regional accessibility, enhance local tourism, increase labor mobility and promote human capital accumulation, alleviating multidimensional poverty.In the 15th paper, Jiang et al. investigate how effective poverty reduction may be accomplished in Asia through energy efficiency, technological innovation and financial development. The results show that different areas have effectively reduced poverty over time. However, Asia’s overall effectiveness in reducing poverty is unevenly geographically distributed.In the 16th paper, Cui et al. examine the impact of remittances on poverty alleviation in selected Asian economies. Remittances have been identified as a potential source of income for households in developing countries and a means of reducing poverty. The results suggest that remittances significantly and negatively impact poverty levels in these economies, indicating that remittances play a crucial role in poverty reduction.In the 17th paper, Liu et al. focus on the trilemma association of education, income and poverty alleviation. The results show that education decreases poverty when evaluated through the poverty gap and poverty headcount ratio. This study recommends that all stakeholders enhance education and family planning to reduce poverty and achieve inclusive growth.In the final paper, Guo and Ma explore the importance and contribution of spiritual poverty alleviation using people’s subjective evaluation data of deeply impoverished areas. The main findings reveal that the spiritual measures are more important than the material measures, and some of the second-level indicators have relatively low recognition of poverty alleviation contribution, which is an important basis for our targeted policies. References Taghizadeh-Hesary, F, N Panthamit and N Yoshino (2021). Introduction. In Poverty Reduction for Inclusive Sustainable Growth in Developing Asia, F Taghizadeh-HesaryN PanthamitN Yoshino (eds.), Singapore: Springer. Google Scholar UNU-WIDER (2020). COVID-19 fallout could push half a billion people into poverty in developing countries. Available at: https://unu.edu/media-relations/releases/covid-19-fallout-could-push-half-a-billion-people-into-poverty-in-developing-countries.html. (Accessed on 2 May, 2022). Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Recommended Vol. 68, No. 04 Metrics History Published: 20 June 2023 PDF download