Publication Details

Policy responses to the spatial dimensions of poverty

Working paper series: ‘Spatial Poverty Traps: What Are They and What Can Be Done About Them?'

Kate Higgins
Kate Bird
Dan Harris
2010

Abstract

The spatial dimensions of poverty should matter to policymakers. Why? First, because large numbers of people live in spatially disadvantaged areas. Second, because geography and location have been found to have considerable explanatory power when it comes to understanding this disadvantage. What, then, should policymakers do? How can and should public policy address the spatial dimensions of poverty?

This paper is a joint Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CPRC Working Paper Series on ‘Spatial Poverty Traps: What Are They and What Can Be Done About Them'. Section 2 examines spatiality in development discourse and policy. It does this by looking at policy documents from a number of developing country and donors, as well as the World Bank’s 2009 World Development Report, Reshaping Economic Geography. Section 3 outlines eight policy attempts to address spatial disparity, by looking at the policy problem, response and impact. Section 4 identifies lessons for policy and practice and Section 5 concludes.

Publication Type(s)

CPRC Working Paper

Keywords

intergenerational transmission of poverty poverty traps policy spatial analysis Spatial poverty traps series

ISBN: 978-1-907288-13-5

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