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CBL PPS - Poverty and the Private Sector*

Faculty
Andrew Crabtree
Course Coordinator
Andrew Crabtree
Prerequisite/progression of the course
Students should have a basic knowledge of economics
Course content, structure and teaching
Poverty in the developing countries is on the rise. It is essential for the issue to move again into the forefront of policy design. (World Development Report 1988)
At the start of a new century, poverty remains a global problem of huge proportions. Of the world's 6 billion people, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 a day and 1.2 billion on less than $1 a day. Eight out of every 100 infants do not live to see their fifth birthday. Nine of every 100 boys and 14 of every 100 girls who reach school age do not attend school. Poverty is also evident in poor people's lack of political power and voice and in their extreme vulnerability to ill health, economic dislocation, personal violence and natural disasters. And the scourge of HIV/AIDS, the frequency and brutality of civil conflicts, and rising disparities between rich countries and the developing world have increased the sense of deprivation and injustice for many.
(World Bank Home Page 2004-02-04)
Reducing poverty has been one of the main aims of development, this course seeks to explore the role the private sector can, if at all, play in achieving that aim. Students will gain an understanding of the various notions of poverty and an insight into the most important contemporary macro and micro issues relating to poverty and the role of the private sector.
After providing a discussion of the basic concepts relating to poverty and the private sector, the course goes on to briefly explore the contention that an open market economy is best for reducing poverty. It will then turn to a more detailed study of specific business poverty related activities. The cases chosen will reflect a variety of contexts and types of business illustrating the richness of possibilities. The course will end by examining future challenges particularly in relation to climate change, poverty and the role of the private sector.
Teaching methods:
Two hours for 12 weeks. A combination of lectures and presentations with active student participation. Students will be required to read approximately 800 pages.
The course's development of personal competences
In addition to improving their intellectual skills, students will have the possibility to make presentations and be involved in group work.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, and based on a thorough knowledge of the reading, the students should be able to account for the most important contemporary definitions of poverty; analyze the leading issues relating to poverty and the private sector and the latter’s effect on poverty in relation to trade and foreign direct investment; describe the linkages of the effects of the private sector on poverty in specific countries (Vietnam, Botswana), analyze various forms of private sector activity at the micro level and discuss their consequences for poverty.
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
Mini project.
Recommended literature
Required reading:
  • World Development Report 2000/2001, Attacking
  • Poverty. Overview and Chapters 1 The Nature and Evolution of Poverty, and 2 Causes of Poverty and a Framework for action. Download via sitescape.
Suggested further reading:
  • Voices of the Poor 2000/2001, Ch 2. Definitions of Poverty. World Bank download from the World Bank’s Home Page www.worldbank.org (or use the title to do a google search)
  • The Millennium Development Goals and the Role of the Private Sector
  • Investing in Development, A practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium
  • Goals Preface, Chapters 1 The Millennium Goals and Why They Matter,
  • Chapter 9, The Contribution of the Private Sector.
  • http://www.unmillenniumproject.org

Class 2

Required reading:

A.K. Sen (1999) Poverty as Capability Deprivation, Chapter 5, Development as Freedom, Oxford, OUP

Suggested reading:
  • Robeyns I, The Capability Approach: An Interdisciplinary Introduction (Sitescape)
  • M.Nussbaum (2000) Women and Human Development, Cambridge University Press,
  • Cambridge
Class 3
Required reading:
  • Spreading the Wealth, David Dollar and Aart Kraay.Foreign Affairs. New York: Jan/Feb 2002. Vol. 81, Iss. 1; p. 120
  • James Galbraith, Joe W. Pitts III, et. al., Foreign Affairs, New York, Jul/Aug 2002
  • Vol. 81, Iss. 4; pg 178 (access via library)
Suggested reading:
  • Growth is Good for the Poor, Dollar D and Kraay A
(sitescape)
Presentation:
Class 4.
Required reading:
  • Botswana
  • Clover J (2003)Botswana: Future Prospects and the Need for
  • Broad Based Development Siphambe H K (2003) The Implications of
  • Globalisation for FDI in Botswana
Suggested reading:
  • Botswana: Globalization, Liberalization and
Sustainable Human Development. UNCTAD/UNDP 2000
Presentation:
Class 5
Required reading:
  • Vietnam Development Report (2006): Business. Executive
Suggested reading:
  • Summary, Businesses of All Sorts, Business and Development.
  • World Bank (2008) Vietnam, taking stock: An update on Vietnam’s recent economic development.
Presentation:
Class 6.
Required reading:
  • Sumner A. (2005) Can We Conceptually Link Foreign Direct Investment and Capabilities Poverty?
Suggested reading:
  • Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: How much do we know? (2008) Chapter together with Dr Andrew Sumner, in Rugraff E, Sánchez-Ancochea D, Sumner A (eds.) Transnational Corporations and Development Policy: Critical Perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Presentation:
Class 7.
Required reading:
  • Prahalad C.K. and Hammond A (2003) Serving the Poor Profitably Harvard Business Review On Corporate Responsibility.
  • Tiwari M, ICT’s and Poverty Reduction:user perspective study of rural Madhya Pradesh, India in The European Journal of Development Research Vol 20 No3 September 2008
Suggested reading:
  • Prahalad C.K. The Bottom of the Pyramid.
  • Crabtree A (2008) Much Ado, but is it enough?
  • Download from Sitescape
Presentation:
Class 8.
  • Microcredit/Microfinance
Required reading:
  • Birgit Helms (2007) Access for All: Building Inclusive Financial Systems Chapters 1,2, 7 & 8
Presentation:
Class 9. Fair Trade
  • Fair Trade, Business and Sustainable Development – Journal of Sustainable Development 13, 2005
  • Editorial,
  • Low and Davenport, Postcards from the Edge: Maintaining the “Alternative” Character of Fair Trade.
  • Parrish et al. What Tanzanian Coffee Farmers Can Teach the World. A Performance Based Look at the Fair Trade- Free Trade Debate.
Presentation:
Class 10.
  • Chok S, Macbeth J, and Warren C., Tourism as a Tool for Poverty Alleviation: A critical analysis of `pro-poor tourism´ and implications for sustainability.
  • Scheyvens R Exploring the Tourism-Poverty Nexus
  • Both articles in Current Issues in Tourism Vol. 10, Nos. 2&3, 2007
Suggested further reading:
  • Brown L (2000) Sex Slaves: The trafficking of women in Asia, Virago, London
  • Pro-poor tourism strategies : making tourism work for the poor : a review of experience / Caroline Ashley, Dilys Roe and Harold Goodwin.
www.odi.org.uk
Presentation:
Class 11.
  • Amartya Sen What’s the Use of Music? The Role of the Music Industry in Africa. John Collins, The Ghanaian Experience World Bank 2001 www.worldbank.org Penna F.J. et. al. (2004) The African Music Project
Presentation:
Class 12.
  • Anand S and Sen A (1994) Sustainable Human Development
  • Sustainable Human Development: Concepts and Priorities
  • World Bank et. al. (2009) Poverty and Climate Change www.worldbank.org
  • Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change download via http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm

Last updated by The electives Office 31/01/2010