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Pro-poor policies often fail in their goals because poverty itself impairs the state’s implementation capacity and skews politicians’ incentives, producing a governance trap. An exception is Brazil’s Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer programme, which exhibits consistently better implementation in poorer municipalities with less state capacity. This study illuminates the conditions supporting this unusual pattern of pro-poor governance, defined as better implementation in poorer communities. Where local political actors receive financial rewards for improved implementation, the constraint of a high rate of poverty transforms into both an opportunity to earn significant discretionary revenue and a compelling motive in the absence of alternative revenue sources. Rather than operating as a binding constraint, implementation capacity can be rapidly built when political motivations to raise revenue are strong and implementation is labour-intensive and scalable. For Bolsa Família, municipal implementation is rewarded through the Index of Decentralized Management. Cross-sectional and panel data analysis confirm that, as the theory of pro-poor governance predicts, the municipalities performing best on this index are those with few alternative sources of revenue and the greatest scope to benefit, and that municipalities target the index components with the highest returns.

Based on the pro-poor index and pro-poor curve measurement method of economic growth, this paper uses the data of Chinese Family Panel Studies to measure the pro-poorness of economic growth in rural areas of China. The study found that, from 2014 to 2018, the economic growth of rural areas in China was absolutely pro-poor, the economic growth in 2014–2016 was relatively non-pro-poor, and the economic growth in 2016–2018 was relatively pro-poor. From the perspective of household income structure, optimizing the pro-poorness of economic growth requires continuously increasing the wage income of low-income households, and continuing to implement fiscal transfer policies that are more favorable to low-income households. From the perspective of the human capital of households, optimizing the pro-poorness of economic growth requires active family support policies to enable workers to better balance family and work responsibilities, and adopt target location strategies to give special care to families with special difficulties while increasing investment in public services.

Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThis study investigates the relationship between tourism development and income inequality across regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, using regional panel data for 2003–2024. The empirical analysis is based on an unbalanced panel of 16 regions, comprising 367 region–year observations. Fixed-effects regression models are employed to examine how two distinct dimensions of tourism development (tourism services per capita and tourist accommodation places per capita) affect income inequality measured by the regional Gini coefficient.The results indicate that the intensity of tourism service provision does not have a statistically significant effect on income inequality, even after controlling for cross-sectional dependence. In contrast, tourism accommodation infrastructure capacity is positively and statistically significantly associated with regional income inequality across all model specifications. Additional results show that income inequality is significantly influenced by poverty incidence, income polarization, healthcare expenditures, and the share of the rural population.The coefficients on the per-capita tourist accommodation variable are positive across all specifications. This indicates that the growth of this indicator contributes to increased income inequality. Moreover, the coefficients for the indicators ShServPop and ShServPop(–1) are significant. However, they cannot be relied upon, as Pesaran’s test rejects the hypothesis of cross-sectional independence for these specifications. This suggests that the growth of tourism infrastructure may exacerbate, rather than reduce, regional income differences due to capital concentration, skill-labor-oriented employment, and price effects.The results highlight the need for complementary policies that promote inclusive tourism development and mitigate inequality-enhancing effects of tourism-related infrastructure investment. AcknowledgmentThis study was funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of the IRN grant project AP26198345 “Reducing socio-economic inequality in the regions of Kazakhstan through investments in health and improving the organization of the healthcare system.”

Poverty is one of the most pressing global problems of the world today. One promising option to provide employment opportunities for the inhabitants of underdeveloped rural areas is the development of ‘pro-poor tourism’. Poverty alleviation tourism can generate environmental benefits in addition to economic, social and cultural ones. This study aims to discuss the possibilities of poverty alleviation of rural communities through the development of community-based ecotourism. The introductory part of the study briefly defines the theoretical frameworks of the concept of poverty and ecotourism in the context of sustainable development. Using the specific example of the Mid-Himalayan Rural village of Pastanga (India), show the potential areas for developing community-based ecotourism with respect to the local development opportunities. In the same way that is draw on our own research as well as available statistical data from the East Sikkim and Questionnaire Survey-2021. The case study presents the current extent of adventure trekking tourism and highlights the trends, characteristics and significance of trekking in Pastanga-Khedi eco-trail. The paper also propose strategies for exploring the trekking potential through the emphasis on ecotourism in the study area. In conclusion, we propose solutions for the regulated development of the area in a participatory way by the concerned stakeholders by implementing activities related to the Community-Based Ecotourism.

This article examines the intersection of financial inclusion, pro-poor populism, and financialized governance through an analysis of India’s Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) schemes. Promoted as flagship initiatives to empower the poor and overcome “financial untouchability,” these schemes have become central to the Modi government’s development discourse. Yet, beneath their emancipatory rhetoric, they function as instruments to integrate informal populations into the formal financial system by exposing them to new forms of market vulnerability. While financial inclusion is often equated with empowerment, the concrete issues, such as widespread dormant accounts, rising non-performing assets, and growing reliance on direct benefit transfers, reveal structural limitations. Situating these policies within the global turn toward “finance as development,” the article argues that PMJDY and PMMY represent a broader shift from redistributive welfare to financialized governance. Though framed as pro-poor populism, their top-down and technocratic design reflects the governing paradigm of authoritarian populism under financialized governance. These programs simultaneously legitimize the government’s popular appeal while deepening market penetration and embedding financial logics into welfare provision. Drawing on policy documents, financial data, and critical literature, the article demonstrates how India’s financial inclusion agenda signals a deeper transformation in statecraft, where welfare is reconfigured through finance to produce a new, market-mediated form of economic citizenship in the Global South.

Tourism is a crucial pathway to global poverty reduction and sustainable development. Pro-poor tourism (PPT), which is conducive to the development of the poor, can bring social, environmental, cultural and economic benefits to the poor. The path dependence theory affirms that past choices determine future decisions. Once the path dependence results in a lock-in effect in pro-poor tourism, it is likely to affect pro-poor tourism performance. Here, we quantitatively analyze the characteristics and causes of path dependence in pro-poor tourism in China and investigate how path dependence affects pro-poor tourism performance. We find that the sunk cost (factor input) of pro-poor tourism is a major cause of path dependence. Path dependence in pro-poor tourism takes various forms: cognitive path dependence, institutional path dependence, technological path dependence and economic path dependence. Among these, cognitive dependence and institutional path dependence negatively affect pro-poor tourism performance, whereas technological dependence and economic path dependence positively affect performance. Simultaneously, the factor input of PPT affects PPT performance through the four dimensions of path dependence. The path dependence in PPT mediates the effect of factor input on PPT performance. Our findings reveal the characteristics and regularities of path dependence in the pro-poor tourism strategy implemented by the Chinese government. Findings of this study are important for policymakers that can assist in the implementation of PPT strategies and help improve PPT performance.

Over 700 million people are suffering from absolute poverty around the world. This research focused on whether empathy and norms sequentially function to promote participation in pro-poor tourism (PPT), which is one of the solutions to alleviate absolute poverty. However, because PPT has not been recognized in Japan, participation intention in PPT was interpreted using donation intention to absolute poverty. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyzed the online questionnaire of 144 men and 146 women and deduced a nonrecursive model. This model indicated that a statistically significant path from injunctive norms returned once to themselves through personal and descriptive norms and, after that, reached intention. This conceptual cycle suggests that concepts such as donation intention to absolute poverty and participating intention in PPT are not sufficiently accepted as prosocial behavior and that a combination of these factors is needed to influence prosocial behaviors. Furthermore, marketing is recommended to spread basic information about the concept and how to practice it regarding PPT activities because of the low awareness of PPT.

Potato is the third most important food crop in terms of global consumption, and it has been highly recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a food security crop as the world faces a growing population and related problems with food supply. This paper presents data on global potato production, consumption, malnutrition, and hunger; information which helps pinpoint where the resource-poor and hungry live and how the potato and international agricultural research could help improve food security and livelihoods in developing countries. The International Potato Center has used such a targeting exercise to focus its research for development and develop its new strategic plan, in which five out of the six objectives are related to potato.

The core idea of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is that the human condition is tightly linked to environmental condition. This assertion suggests that conservation and development projects should be able to achieve both ecological and social progress without detracting from their primary objectives. Whereas \"win-win\" projects that achieve both conservation and economic gains are a commendable goal, they are not easy to attain. An analysis of World Bank projects with objectives of alleviating poverty and protecting biodiversity revealed that only 16% made major progress on both objectives. Here, we provide a framework for anticipating win-win, lose-lose, and win-lose outcomes as a result of how people manage their ecosystem services. This framework emerges from detailed explorations of several case studies in which biodiversity conservation and economic development coincide and cases in which there is joint failure. We emphasize that scientific advances around ecosystem service production functions, tradeoffs among multiple ecosystem services, and the design of appropriate monitoring programs are necessary for the implementation of conservation and development projects that will successfully advance both environmental and social goals. The potentially bright future of jointly advancing ecosystem services, conservation, and human well-being will be jeopardized unless a global monitoring effort is launched that uses the many ongoing projects as a grand experiment.

Using the lenses of Porter's value chain theory and pro-poor tourism strategies, the current study investigates the pro-poor value chain impacts of the handicraft sector in four tourist destinations in Ethiopia. The study employed a qualitative research approach with an exploratory design. We recruited research participants from relevant stakeholders using purposeful and convenient techniques. Data were collected using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and personal observations. Research findings reveal that although the handicraft-based tourism activity in the study areas seems promising, the handicraft sector in the region is less pro-poor due to a lack of solid and sustainable value chain formation. Drawing upon its findings, the study develops a comprehensive handicraft value chain framework that can serve as a blueprint for various rural area handicraft actors and destination planners. Policy-relevant implications, study limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.