About this Book

World Bank Technical Paper No. 328. Relates the incidence of poverty in Asia and Latin America to the degree of presence or absence of 13 social development indicators for the years 1985-90 and to the average level of income for the same time period. Chapters provide a complete statistical analysis, explaining each variable used and the techniques used for measuring association and testing the statistical significance of the correlations. The report also explores five other forces that may affect the level of absolute poverty, including a country's material environment, religious and spiritual history, political structure, culture, and social organization.