"The study investigates poverty comparisons across the various strata and urban/ rural areas in Cameroon. A composite poverty indicator is constructed using multiple correspondence analysis by taking into account 33 non-monetary indicators that have been identified as describing a real poverty situation"--From the abstract.

Spatial poverty comparisons are investigated in three African countries using multidimensional indicators of well-being. The work is analogous to the univariate stochastic dominance literature in that it seeks poverty orderings that are robust to the choice of multidimensional poverty lines and indices. In addition, the study seeks to ensure that the comparisons are robust to aggregation procedures for multiple welfare variables. In contrast to earlier work, the methodology applies equally well to what can be defined as union, intersection, and intermediate approaches to dealing with multidimensional indicators of well-being. Furthermore, unlike much of the stochastic dominance literature, this work computes the sampling distributions of the poverty estimators to perform statistical tests of the difference in poverty measures. The methods are applied to two measures of well-being, the log of household expenditures per capita and children's height-for-age z scores, using data from the 1988 Ghana Living Standards Study survey, the 1993 National Household Survey in Madagascar, and the 1999 National Household Survey in Uganda. Bivariate poverty comparisons are at odds with univariate comparisons in several interesting ways. Most important, it cannot always be concluded that poverty is lower in urban areas in one region compared with that in rural areas in another, even though univariate comparisons based on household expenditures per capita almost always lead to that conclusion.

In light of the opportunities and the challenges facing African economies in the 21st century, this edited volume traces the evolution of poverty in the course of economic development in sub-Saharan Africa over the recent decades. By engaging with, and seeking to develop on, the work of Professor Erik Thorbecke, it examines the evolving dynamics of poverty in multiple dimensions. It also discusses how to lay down foundations for improved governance and institutions that will realize inclusive development in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the volume contributes to our understanding of dynamics of pro-poor growth and pro-growth poverty reduction, and to the on-going policy and academic debates on how to overcome fragility and vulnerability and secure inclusive development through socio-economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa. The volume is divided into four parts; two overview chapters in Part 1 set out a common theme running through the volume. Four chapters in Part II examine an evolution of the poverty profile in different dimensions in sub-Saharan Africa since the new millennium. Part III presents three country case studies of tracing poverty dynamics under a country-specific institutional and policy environment. Part IV consists of three chapters, each of which addresses the question of how to advance an inclusive development agenda in sub-Saharan Africa, but from three different perspectives: structural changes, a governance framework, and an institutional foundation.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universiteat Geottingen, 2009.

Cameroon's suboptimal economic experience since independence (1960) sheds light on broader issues of Africa's development narrative, and provides valuable economic and policy knowledge. While Cameroon's large informal economy is diverse and resilient and rooted in old business traditions, its formal economy has exhibited low productivity and employment growth for over 60 years. This has brought anger, disappointment, and violent conflict in several regions of the country. The Oxford Handbook of the Economy of Cameroon examines the reasons of Cameroon's unsatisfactory economic performance and draws lessons from successful development experience to help tackle these issues. The Handbook provides a critical assessment of the history, patterns, and strategies of economic development in Cameroon, and outlines new approaches to economic enquiry for prosperity and social change. Through Cameroon's governance story, the handbook analyzes the evolving conceptions of economic policy, takes stock of intellectual progress, documents the challenges of implementation, and outlines the intellectual and policy agenda ahead. For a developing country increases in per capita income arise from advances in technology arise from closing the knowledge and technology gap with those at the frontier. And within any country (especially one like Cameroon), there is enormous scope for productivity improvement simply by closing the gap between best practices and average practices. Standards of living can therefore be improved through the implementation of pertinent learning strategies. In this Oxford Handbook of the Economy of Cameroon, an international team of leading development economists and researchers address the wide range of issues facing Cameroon and provide guiding principles on how best the country (and other developing nations) could move human, capital, and financial resources from low- to high-productivity sectors in a constantly changing global economy.