An inquiry into well-being and destitution / / Partha Dasgupta

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910813638703321
• Autore: Dasgupta Partha
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oxford, : Clarendon Press; New York, : Oxford University Press, 1993
• ISBN: 0-585-37393-0; 9786611978297; 0-19-159609-4; 1-281-97829-9
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: xviii, 661 p. : ill
• Disciplina: 330.9172/4
• Soggetti: Poverty - Developing countries; Quality of life - Developing countries; Resource allocation; Income distribution - Developing countries; Households - Developing countries; Malnutrition - Developing countries
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [546]-625) and indexes.
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- PREFACE -- Contents -- PART I: WELL-BEING: THEORY AND REALIZATION -- 1. THE COMMODITY BASIS OF WELL-BEING -- 1.1 Welfare and Freedoms -- 1.2 Facts and Values in the Phenomenon of Destitution -- 1.3 Destitution as a Resource Allocation Problem -- 1.4 The Effects of Ill-Health -- 1.5 Institutions and Agency Roles -- 1.6 Theory and Policy -- 2. POLITICAL MORALITY AND THE STATE -- 2.1 The Government as an Agency -- 2.2 Acts and their Consequences -- 2.3 Utility and Rights: Public Judgements and Aggregative Evaluations of Well-Being -- 2.4 Commodity Needs -- 2.5 Freedom and Rights: Positive and Negative -- 2.6 Impersonality and the Public Sphere -- 3. THE OBJECTS OF SOCIAL CONTRACTS -- 3.1 Rules versus Discretion -- 3.2 Outcome- versus Resource-Based Evaluative Principles -- 3.3 Political Competition and Civil Liberties -- 3.4 Motivation and Choice -- 3.5 Social Systems: A Formulation -- 3.6 Contractual and ; Optimization Theories -- 3.7 Ex Post Equilibria and Ex Ante Contracts -- 3.8 Measures of Freedom -- 3.9 Social Well-Being Functions -- 3.10 Efficiency, Equality, and the Problem of Implementation -- 4. WELL-BEING: FROM THEORY TO MEASUREMENT -- 4.1 Constituents and Determinants of Well-Being -- 4.2 Income -- 4.3 Health, 1: Anthropometric Measures -- 4.4 Health, 2: Mortality Indices -- 4.5 Health, 3: Morbidity -- 4.6 Education: Numeracy and Literacy -- 5. THE REALIZATION OF WELL-BEING -- 5.1 Citizenship: Civil, Political, and Socio-Economic -- 5.2 Inter-Country Comparison of the Quality of Life -- 5.3 Political and Civil Liberties versus Economic Progress: Is There a Trade-Off? -- 5.4 Wars and Strife -- 5.5 Inequalities -- 5.6 The Point of Cross-Country Studies -- Appendix: Political and Civil Rights Indices -- PART II: ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES AMONG HOUSEHOLDS: THE STANDARD THEORY -- 6. RESOURCE ALLOCATION MECHANISMS.; 6.1 Resources and Property Rights -- 6.2 Markets and Market Mechanisms -- 6.3 Culture and Market Transactions -- 6.4 Externalities: Public Goods and Common Property Resources -- 6.5 Infrastructure and Fixed Costs -- 6.6 Private and Public Realms, and Private and Collective Goods -- 6.7 Knowledge, Organization, and Economic Growth -- *6. PUBLIC GOODS AND COMMON-PROPERTY RESOURCES -- *6.1 The Theory of Public Goods -- *6.2 The Problem of the Commons -- 7. DECENTRALIZATION AND CENTRAL GUIDANCE -- 7.1 Competitive Mechanisms in the Private Realm -- 7.2 Existence of Competitive Equilibrium -- 7.3 Competitive Markets and Efficiency -- 7.4 The implementation of Just Allocations in the Private Realm -- 7.5 Pluralism and Exchange Restrictions in the Public Realm -- 7.6 Producer versus Consumer Taxation -- 7.7 National Income in a Pluralist Society -- *7. REAL NATIONAL INCOME AS A MEASURE OF GENERAL WELL-BEING -- 8. UNCERTAINTY, INSURANCE, AND SOCIAL NORMS -- 8.1 Environmental Uncertainty -- 8.2 Choice under Uncertainty and Risk Aversion -- 8.3 Avoiding Disasters -- 8.4 Trading in Risks: Pooling and Spreading -- 8.5 Correlated Risks in Agriculture -- 8.6 Reciprocity as a Social Norm in Stationary Environments -- 8.7 Overlapping Generations and the Transmission of Resources -- PART III: THE HOUSEHOLD AND ITS SETTING: EXTENSIONS OF THE STANDARD THEORY -- 9. LAND, LABOUR, SAVINGS, AND CREDIT -- 9.1 The Peasant Household -- 9.2 Credit Constraints and the Organization of Production -- 9.3 Moral Hazard, Wage Labour, and Tenancy -- 9.4 Village Enclaves as Production Units -- 9.5 Land, Labour, and Credit Markets: Observations on Rural India -- 9.6 Agrarian Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa -- 9.7 Consumption as Investment -- 9.8 Lack of Credit among the Assetless -- 9.9 Consumption Smoothing -- 9.10 Unemployment -- *9. HOUSEHOLDS AND CREDIT CONSTRAINTS.; *9.1 Model of the Peasant Household -- *9.2 Precautionary Motive for Saving -- *9.3 Credit, Insurance, and Agricultural Investment -- *9.4 Why May Credit be Rationed? -- 10. POVERTY AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE BASE -- 10.1 The Resource Basis of Rural Production -- 10.2 What Are Environmental Resources? -- 10.3 Needs, Stress, and Carrying Capacity: Land and Water -- 10.4 Environmental Shadow Prices, Project Evaluation, and Net National Product -- 10.5 Markets and their Failure: Unidirectional and Reciprocal Externalities -- 10.6 Property Rights on Land -- 10.7 Public Failure and the Erosion of Local Commons -- 10.8 Work Allocation among Women and Children and the Desirable Locus of Environmental Decisions -- *10. NET NATIONAL PRODUCT IN A DYNAMIC ECONOMY -- *10.1 The Economics of Optimal Control -- *10.2 NNP in a Deterministic Environment -- *10.3 The Hamiltonian and Sustainable Well-Being -- *10.4 Future Uncertainty -- 11. FOOD, CARE, AND WORK: THE HOUSEHOLD AS AN ; ALLOCATION MECHANISM -- 11.1 Gender Differentials among Adults -- 11.2 Allocations among Girls aod Boys -- 11.3 Bridewealth and Dowry -- 11.4 Regional Patterns of Household Allocations: The Case of India -- 11.5 Marriage and Inheritance in India -- 11.6 Bargaining Theory as a Framework for Household Choice -- 11.7 The Nash Programme: A Formalization -- 11.8 Bargaining vs. Well-Being Maximization within the Household -- *11. AXIOMATIC BARGAINING THEORY -- *11.1 Nash Bargaining Solution -- *11.2 The Kalai-Smorodinsky Bargaining Solution -- 12. FERTILITY AND RESOURCES: THE HOUSEHOLD AS A REPRODUCTIVE UNIT -- 12.1 Income, Fertility, and Food: The Environmentalist's Argument -- 12.2 The Population Problem -- 12.3 Population Externalities: Household versus Societal Reasoning -- 12.4 Birth Control and Female Education -- 12.5 Children as Consumer and Insurance Goods.; 12.6 Environmental Degradation, and Children as Producer Goods -- 12.7 Some Special Features of Sub-Saharan Africa -- 12.8 Modelling Fertility Decisions -- 12.9 Allocation Failure and Public Policy -- *12. STRATEGIC COMPLEMENTARITIES IN FERTILITY DECISIONS -- *12.1 Atmospheric Externalities -- *12.2 Why Nash Equilibria? -- 13. POPULATION AND SAVINGS: NORMATIVE CONSIDERATIONS -- 13.1 Parental Concerns -- 13.2 The Genesis Problem and the Repugnant Conclusion -- 13.3 Is the Repugnant Conclusion Repugnant? -- 13.4 Actual Problems and an Underlying Asymmetry -- 13.5 Rational Ends -- *13. CLASSICAL UTILITARIANISM IN A LIMITED WORLD -- *13.1 The Model -- *13.2 The Solution -- PART IV: UNDERNOURISHMENT AND DESTITUTION -- 14. FOOD NEEDS AND WORK CAPACITY -- 14.1 Complementarities among Nutrients -- 14.2 Nutrition and Infection -- 14.3 Energy Conservation -- 14.4 Energy Requirements, Nutritional Status, and Productivity -- 14.5 Basal Metabolic Rates and Maintenance Requirements -- 14.6 Special Requirements, 1: Growth and Development -- 14.7 Special Requirements, 2: Pregnancy and Lactation -- 14.8 Determinants of Work Capacity and Endurance -- 15. ADAPTATION TO UNDERNOURISHMENT -- 15.1 The International Incidence of Calorie Deficiency -- 15.2 Adaptation: Genetic, Physiological, and Behavioural -- 15.3 Short-Term Adjustment, or Homeostasis -- 15.4 Homeostasis and the Magnitude of Undernourishment -- 15.5 Long-Term Adaptation -- 15.6 Metabolic Disequilibrium -- 15.7 Food Intake, Efficient Productivity, and Stature -- 15.8 Activity Possibility Sets -- 16. INEQUALITY, MALNUTRITION, AND THE DISFRANCHISED -- 16.1 Asset Ownership, Maintenance Costs, and Labour Power -- 16.2 The Labour Market and Involuntary Unemployment -- 16.3 Efficiency Wages and Piece-Rates -- 16.4 Competitive Market Allocations -- 16.5 Development Regimes -- 16.6 Growth with Redistribution.; 16.7 Robustness and Extensions -- 16.8 Involuntary Unemployment and Surplus Labour -- 16.9 Who Resists Wage Cuts? -- 16.10 The Appeal of Nutrition-Based Theories of the Labour Market -- *16. ANALYSIS OF ALLOCATION MECHANISMS WHEN NUTRITION AFFECTS PRODUCTIVITY -- *16.1 Characteristics of Equilibrium Allocations in the Timeless World: Proofs -- *16.2 A Two-Class Example -- *16.3 The Speed of 'Trickle-Down' -- *16.4 The Coexistence of Casual and Permanent Labour -- *16.5 Food Distribution within Poor Households -- 17. INCENTIVES AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES -- 17.1 Agrarian Reform -- 17.2 Food Subsidies -- 17.3 Employment Guarantee Schemes and Rural Infrastructure -- 17.4 Community Participation and Credit Facilities -- 17.5 Health and Education -- 17.6 Envoi -- References -- Index of Names -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- ; W -- X -- Y -- Z -- Index of Subjects -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.
• Sommario/riassunto: Dealing comprehensively with the problem of poverty and undernourishment, this book addresses the debate over methods of estimating their incidence. It is an analytical and empirical inquiry into human well-being and the phenomenon of destitution as it occurs among rural populations of poor countries.