Pro-Poor Growth, Poverty and Inequality in Rural Vietnam

This study explores the effects of Vietnam's transition on the welfare of different ethnic groups in rural Vietnam. It draws on three rounds of household surveys, VHLSS 2002, 2004 and 2006. It is first observed that the pace of poverty reduction for minorities surpassed the majority over the period 2002 to 2006, although poor people were still concentrated in the minority groups. Secondly, the disparity of living standards has been widening. In particular, inequality in both the majority and minority increased over the periods. Thirdly, the study shows that the pure effect of economic growth on poverty is estimated to have been greater if inequality remained constant. It is noted that the impacts of economic growth vary depending on which ethnic group a household belongs to. Finally, it is also confirmed from regression decompositions of within inequality that the main driver of inequality is not identical among different ethnic groups. Given the diversity across ethnic groups, we can conclude that the governmental policy aiming at equal access to infrastructure and more equal distribution of assets, such as land, for ethnic minority groups would lead to more equal distribution of consumption and poverty reduction of those groups. Also, consideration of local needs of each ethnic minority group would be necessary in designing and implementing public policies given the heterogeneous socio-economic circumstances surrounding each ethnic minority group.Vietnam, Ethnic minority, Growth, Poverty, Inequality, Decomposition

Poverty and Inequality among Social Groups Rural India

This study examines economic disparity among social groups in rural India. While the pace of poverty reduction for disadvantaged groups, who benefited from both economic growth and redistribution, surpassed that of other caste households during the period from 1999-2006, they remain the most poor among the rural poor. This studys decomposition analysis confirms that they are not only less wealthy than other castes but also have lower returns on their assets due to discrimination or lower productivity. In addition, the contribution of the latter has become larger over time, implying that programs established by the government and development agencies to reduce economic disparity between two groups may be less effective. For example, an antipoverty program is vital, and the government also needs to strengthen the effectiveness of the current affirmative action programs. There are also lessons from South Koreas past experience to be shared for the improvement of productivity

The boundary of Rauzy fractal and discrete tilings

The Rauzy fractal is a domain in the two-dimensional plane constructed by the Rauzy substitution, a substitution rule on three letters. The Rauzy fractal has a fractal-like boundary, and the currently known its constructions is not only for its boundary but also for the entire domain. In this paper, we show that all points in the Rauzy fractal have a layered structure. We propose two methods of constructing the Rauzy fractal using layered structures. We show how such layered structures can be used to construct the boundary of the Rauzy fractal with less computation than conventional methods. There is a self-replicating pattern in one of the layered structure in the Rauzy fractal. We introduce a notion of self-replicating word and visualize how some self-replicating words on three letters creates discrete tiling of the two dimensional plane

Regionalism and Party System Change at the Sub-national Level: The 2016 Korean National Assembly Election

The Original Version of this paper was presented in the Asian Election Studies 2016, Taipei, Taiwan and in the Joint Conference by Korean Political Science Association and Daejeon Development Institute 2016 (titled Korean Regionalism and Regional Coordination System).This paper analyzes regionalism in the 20th Korean National Assembly (NA) election in 2016 from a sub-national perspective. It thoroughly analyzes regionalism at both the party system level and individual level with a focus on the latter. At the party system level, overall electoral volatility and party competitiveness increased in the district of the Cholla (Southwestern) region in the 20th NA election, which resembled the 17th election in 2004. However, bloc volatility makes it difficult to confirm this assertion. Moreover, regional representation as a measure of regionalism turned out to be still a crucial factor determining individual vote shifts. More voters in the Cholla region supported the Peoples Party over the Minjoo Party as their regional representatives. The main findings of this study have significant implications for Korean electoral politics in identifying the key motivation of Cholla voters in supporting Democrat-affiliated parties, as democratization has evolved alongside broader changes in the political environment

Fiscal Stimulus, Agricultural Growth and Poverty in Asia

Recent debates on a sustainable recovery of the global economy have tended to overemphasise the "savings glut" hypothesis and the unavoidable imperative of higher consumption in China and other emerging Asian countries. That oversaving and not underinvestment is coming in the way of a quicker and more durable recovery is not just simplistic but misleading from a medium- term growth perspective for emerging Asian countries and other developing countries in this region. Drawing upon country panel data for developing countries and a sub-sample of Asian countries during the period 1991 to 2007, the present study makes a case for a bold and coordinated fiscal stimulus, directed to stimulating agricultural and overall growth, and mitigation of poverty and hunger. Our simulations further suggest that poverty reduction is likely to be larger if the fiscal stimulus is directed to social spending in health and education sectors. Indeed, if our simulations of fiscal impacts have any validity, the dire predictions of millions getting trapped in poverty and hunger may turn out to be exaggerated. The prospects of a strong recovery led by fiscal stimulus are thus real and achievable.Government Expenditure, Fiscal Policy, Economic Growth, Agricultural Growth, Poverty, Asia

Automated Construction of Node Software Using Attributes in a Ubiquitous Sensor Network Environment

In sensor networks, nodes must often operate in a demanding environment facing restrictions such as restricted computing resources, unreliable wireless communication and power shortages. Such factors make the development of ubiquitous sensor network (USN) applications challenging. To help developers construct a large amount of node software for sensor network applications easily and rapidly, this paper proposes an approach to the automated construction of node software for USN applications using attributes. In the proposed technique, application construction proceeds by first developing a model for the sensor network and then designing node software by setting the values of the predefined attributes. After that, the sensor network model and the design of node software are verified. The final source codes of the node software are automatically generated from the sensor network model. We illustrate the efficiency of the proposed technique by using a gas/light monitoring application through a case study of a Gas and Light Monitoring System based on the Nano-Qplus operating system. We evaluate the technique using a quantitative metric—the memory size of execution code for node software. Using the proposed approach, developers are able to easily construct sensor network applications and rapidly generate a large number of node softwares at a time in a ubiquitous sensor network environment