Session 4: TOWARDS A JUST SOCIETY

Tuesday, Dec 7, 2021 | 8:00pm – 9:45pm | Bangladesh Time (GMT+6)

Dr Binayak Sen
Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)

Paper Title – Ascent, Descent, Churning, Persistence and Permanent Escape: Contemporary Poverty Dynamics in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract:

The paper provides new evidence on the poverty dynamics in Bangladesh in the 2010s using the three rounds of a large-scale rural representative panel survey. Set in the backdrop of evolving poverty trends during the last 25 years, it unpacks the relative magnitudes as well as the drivers of five distinct movements in and out of rural poverty. These relate to: (a) uninterrupted ascent out of poverty (movers), (b) constant descent into poverty (fallers), (c) chronic persistence in poverty (chronic poor), (d) occasional slippage into poverty and occasional escape out of poverty (churners), and (e) those who manage to stay permanently above poverty (never poor). These five dynamic poverty groups are mutually compared. Each poverty category is found to have different attributes and entails diverse implications for anti-poverty policy. Evidence indicates substantial churning in and out of poverty and the need for resilient graduation.