Pathways Out of Poverty: Private Firms and Economic Mobility in Developing Countries

Until recently, development economists tended to assume a role for private enterprise in reducing poverty, but they didn't articulate it explicitly. The new institutional economics literature, with its emphasis on transaction costs, addresses the environment in which private businesses operate in various countries - the "investment climate". Building on this new thinking, "Pathways Out of Poverty" begins by citing the worldwide drop in the number of very poor people and goes on to identify the ways in which private firms and farms contribute to economic mobility and poverty reduction and what governments can do to enhance this contribution. In four parts, the editors and contributors address economic mobility, offer numerous global examples, consider the importance of good investment climates, and examine the impact of public policies and public attitudes. Their theory, hard economic analysis and case studies provide mechanisms for reducing poverty in developing and transition countries.

Table of Contents:
Preface; P. Woicke. Foreword; N. Stern. Part I: The Role of the Private Sector: Studies and Evidence. 1. Reducing Poverty: The Overall Framework; G. Pfeffermann, G.S. Fields. 2. Escaping from Poverty: Household Income Dynamics in Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, and Venezuela; G.S. Fields, P.L. Cichello, S. Freije, M. Menendez, D. Newhouse. 3. Long-term Economic Mobility and the Private Sector in Developing Countries: New Evidence; G.S. Fields, W.S. Bagg. 4. Informal Self-Employment: Poverty Trap or Decent Alternative? W.F. Maloney. Part II: The Private Sector At Work: Cases from Around the World. 5. Generating Upward Mobility: The Case of Korea and Private Sector Development; Se-Il Park. 6. The Central Role of Entrepreneurs in Transition Economies and China; J. McMillan, C. Woodruff. 7. Opportunities off the Farm as a Springboard out of Rural Poverty: Five Decades of Development in an Indian Village; P. Lanjouw, N. Stern. 8. The Problem of African Entrepreneurial Development; T. Biggs, M. Shah. Part III: The Business Environment. 9. The Firms Speak: What the World Business Environment Survey Tells Us about Constraints on Private Sector Development; G. Batra, D. Kaufmann, A.H.W. Stone. 10. Obstacles Facing Smaller Businesses in Developing Countries; B. Weder. Part IV: Public Policy and Public Attitudes. 11. Bringing SMEs into Global Markets; K. Hallberg, Y. Konishi. 12. The Role of Government in Enhancing Opportunity for the Poor: Economic Mobility, Public Attitudes, and Public Policy; C. Graham.

About the Author :
Gary S. Fields is professor in the Department of Labor Economics and chair of the Department of International and Comparative Labor at Cornell University. Guy Pfeffermann was for the past fifteen years Chief Economist of the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank. He teaches at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.