Dasandi, N; (2013) Poverty in an unequal world: a quantitative structural analysis of the effects of inequality between and within countries on world poverty, 1980-2007. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The existing explanations of the causes of poverty that dominate the development literature have tended to ignore the influence of international inequality on poverty, instead focusing exclusively on domestic factors. Furthermore, these explanations pay little attention to the effect of domestic inequality on poverty. This study addresses these shortcomings through a quantitative analysis of the effects of inequality between and within countries on poverty, between 1980 and 2007. The study introduces a new structural measure of international inequality based on countries’ positions in the international system, created by applying social network analysis to international trade networks to place countries into four hierarchical positions. The results of the regression analysis demonstrate that international inequality has a strong effect on poverty, controlling for a range of other factors typically associated with poverty, such as geography and institutions. In addition to assessing the effects of international inequality on poverty; this study also considers the historical roots of the current unequal international system. The results of the regression analysis demonstrate that colonial factors strongly influence international inequality. The analysis also considers the impact of domestic inequality on poverty, and finds that inequality within countries has a significant effect on poverty. The analysis finds support for the argument that domestic inequality domestic inequality impacts poverty though the effect it has on politics and policy outcomes. Furthermore, by including an interaction term in the regression analysis, the study also demonstrates that domestic inequality has a greater impact on poverty in countries that face lower levels of international inequality than in those that face higher international inequality. In doing so, the study shows that poverty is impacted by a combination of international and domestic factors. In particular, the study demonstrates the manner in which world poverty is fundamentally tied to the structure of global political economy.

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