title: An illustration of the average exit time measure of poverty

authors: Gibson, John

subjects: growth

abstract: The goal of the World Bank is 'a world free of poverty' but the most widely used poverty measures do not show when poverty might be eliminated. The 'head-count index' simply counts the poor, while the 'poverty gap index' shows their average shortfall from the poverty line. Neither measure reflects changes in the distribution of incomes amongst the poor, but squaring the poverty gap brings sensitivity to inequality, albeit at the cost of intuitive interpretation. This paper illustrates a new measure of poverty [Morduch, J., 1998, Poverty, Economic Growth and Average Exit Time, Economics Letters, 59: 385-390]. This new poverty measure is distributionally-sensitive and has a ready interpretation as the average time taken to exit poverty with a constant and uniform growth rate. The illustration uses data from Papua New Guinea, which is the country with the highest degree of inequality in the Asia-Pacific region.

text: An illustration of the average exit time measure of poverty The goal of the World Bank is 'a world free of poverty' but the most widely used poverty measures do not show when poverty might be eliminated. The 'head-count index' simply counts the poor, while the 'poverty gap index' shows their average shortfall from the poverty line. Neither measure reflects changes in the distribution of incomes amongst the poor, but squaring the poverty gap brings sensitivity to inequality, albeit at the cost of intuitive interpretation. This paper illustrates a new measure of poverty [Morduch, J., 1998, Poverty, Economic Growth and Average Exit Time, Economics Letters, 59: 385-390]. This new poverty measure is distributionally-sensitive and has a ready interpretation as the average time taken to exit poverty with a constant and uniform growth rate. The illustration uses data from Papua New Guinea, which is the country with the highest degree of inequality in the Asia-Pacific region.

year: 2002-09

title: Insurance as maladaptation: Resilience and the "business as usual' paradox

authors: O'Hare, Paul

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Insurance and compensation are cited as critical elements of resilience to natural and non-natural hazards alike. As a strategy of risk management, it emphasises peace of mind, financial recompense and the swift restoration of a ‘business as usual’ status for civil, social and commercial life. Yet despite the contribution of insurance to risk management, the synergies with progressive or adaptive articulations of resilience are not sufficiently explicated. This paper explores the fundamental contradictions of insurance as a form of resilience through a study of flood risk management. It demonstrates how insurance regimes serve to structurally embed risky behaviour and inhibit change after detrimental events. As such, transformative interpretations of resilience conflict with the long-standing principles and operational norms of insurance that privilege normality. The paper concludes that, despite its currency within resilience discourses, insurance is maladaptive and that insurance regimes reinforce exposure and vulnerability through underwriting a return to the ‘status-quo’ rather than enabling adaptive behaviour.

text: Insurance as maladaptation: Resilience and the "business as usual' paradox Insurance and compensation are cited as critical elements of resilience to natural and non-natural hazards alike. As a strategy of risk management, it emphasises peace of mind, financial recompense and the swift restoration of a ‘business as usual’ status for civil, social and commercial life. Yet despite the contribution of insurance to risk management, the synergies with progressive or adaptive articulations of resilience are not sufficiently explicated. This paper explores the fundamental contradictions of insurance as a form of resilience through a study of flood risk management. It demonstrates how insurance regimes serve to structurally embed risky behaviour and inhibit change after detrimental events. As such, transformative interpretations of resilience conflict with the long-standing principles and operational norms of insurance that privilege normality. The paper concludes that, despite its currency within resilience discourses, insurance is maladaptive and that insurance regimes reinforce exposure and vulnerability through underwriting a return to the ‘status-quo’ rather than enabling adaptive behaviour.

year: 2016

title: Listening and Learning from Rangatahi Māori: the Voices of Māori Youth

authors: Berryman, Mere

subjects: student self-determination

abstract: This paper presents three stories-over-time of the secondary schooling experiences of New Zealand’s rangatahi Māori–or Māori youth. The stories span fifteen years of New Zealand schooling and are told from three perspectives: the experiences of the students as told in their own words; the voices of youth within the prevailing political contexts of government policy; and, the reframing and repositioning of researchers listening to the experiences of rangatahi Māori who believe they have succeeded as Māori. In reality, the stories are interwoven, however, in an effort to make sense of the various methodological dilemmas, risks, and entanglements across the three points of learning, we have endeavored to disentangle these different threads from the whole and follow these independent of each other. We then weave these threads together again, as we sense-make across this complexity to identify implications for other educators, policy makers and researchers.

text: Listening and Learning from Rangatahi Māori: the Voices of Māori Youth This paper presents three stories-over-time of the secondary schooling experiences of New Zealand’s rangatahi Māori–or Māori youth. The stories span fifteen years of New Zealand schooling and are told from three perspectives: the experiences of the students as told in their own words; the voices of youth within the prevailing political contexts of government policy; and, the reframing and repositioning of researchers listening to the experiences of rangatahi Māori who believe they have succeeded as Māori. In reality, the stories are interwoven, however, in an effort to make sense of the various methodological dilemmas, risks, and entanglements across the three points of learning, we have endeavored to disentangle these different threads from the whole and follow these independent of each other. We then weave these threads together again, as we sense-make across this complexity to identify implications for other educators, policy makers and researchers.

year: 2017