Poverty does not just mean a lack of money, although that is what is commonly considered to be 'poor'. Although this is a vital aspect, poverty can relate to a lack of health, shelter, or education, for example.
Researchers in GHaP are experts in the analysis of poverty, with projects in Asia, Africa and the former Soviet republics. With members of the centre in the subjects of economics, social policy and demography the different aspects of poverty are investigated by a diverse group, each with their own expertise.
Poverty affects all parts of an individuals, a households or a regions life. Touching all aspects such as health, education, lifespan and housing it is a key element to explain differentials between groups and people in various outcomes.
The analysis of poverty is difficult in countries where much of the economy is not recorded and individuals are not necessarily employed in the formal sector. Various techniques can be employed to study poverty in these situations, with GHaP being at the forefront of trying to expand the methodolgy so that those that are poor can be effectively identified.
The International Labour Organisation estimates that more than 200 million children in the world today are involved in child labour, doing work that is damaging to his or her mental, physical and emotional development.
Within GHaP, work on child labour is led by Dr Jackline Wahba .
Her recent study of child labour in Egypt examines the influence of adult market wages and having parents who were child labourers on child labour, when this decision is jointly determined with child schooling, using data from Egypt. The empirical results suggest that low adult market wages are key determinants of child labour; a 10% increase in the illiterate male market wage decreases the probability of child labour by 22% for boys and 13% for girls.
The findings also indicate the importance of social norms in the intergenerational persistence of child labour: parents who were child labourers themselves are on average 10% more likely to send their children to work. In addition, higher local regional income inequality increases the likelihood of child labour.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) sets out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.
Child well-being can be thought as the realisation of these rights, whilst child deprivation, or child poverty, results from the denial of these rights.
In 2007, Jane Falkingham and Angela Baschieri completed a major study on Child Poverty in Tajikistan. Using the CRC as the framework for conceptualising child poverty, the report presents empirical analysis of the Tajikistan Living Standards Survey 2003 and the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2005 in Tajikistan to assess the living conditions and well-being of children in Tajikistan. It is the first comprehensive study of child poverty in the country since independence.
Members of GHaP have close and long-standing links with UNICEF and GHaP is currently providing analytical support to the UNICEF Global Study of Child Poverty. The centre is currently analysing child poverty for UNICEF in Lesotho .