Urban and Rural Poverty: Where Should We Start?

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Urban and Rural Poverty: Where Should We Start? Even if the poverty is still largely rural in many countries as the 1990 World Development Report concludes, urban poverty will become the most significant and politically explosive problem in the next century. (World Bank, 1991: 1) Poverty has often seen as a purely rural problem. In the coming years and decades, urban poverty will become a major challenge for policy makers. As the urban population is growing, so is urban poverty. There is evidence that it is becoming an urban rather than a rural problem. Unless urban poverty is addressed, continued urbanisation will result in increases in urban poverty and inequality. The essay calls for interventions to alleviate urban poverty, but this should not be seen as disregard for the seriousness and magnitude of rural poverty and for the need for rural poverty alleviation. Paying increased attention to urban poverty alleviation should not occur at the expense of rural poverty alleviation. In many respects, rural and urban poverty need to be treated as connected issues, given the close and intensifying links between urban and rural areas through the constant movement of people, goods, capital, remittances, ideas and information. Moreover, poverty alleviation merely through economic growth does not at all ensure that all the poor have the capability to seize the new opportunities. Policy interventions are required to ensure that economic growth is broad-based and that the benefits are passed on to the poor In the essay, the different characteristics between urban and rural poverty will be brought into light as well as the urban-rural linkages which are needed to be understood and enhanced in order to alleviate poverty. The particular examples will be drawn from Thailand’s experiences. The Thai policy towards poverty alleviation, be it urban and rural, will be
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