How much poverty could HIPC reduce? CDPR Discussion Paper 2001

Weeks, John; Dagdeviren, Hulya

Abstract

This paper reviews the development of the HIPC Initiative, then considers how much poverty could be reduced through debt relief. Using a simple distribution function and measures of inequality, US one dollar a day poverty is estimated for the twenty-three countries. We show that the HIPC countries account for relatively little of developing country poverty. Further, full debt cancellation would have a small impact on reducing poverty in most of the HIPC countries themselves. The paper reaches the conclusion that neither a distribution-neutral debt cancellation, nor transferring all debt payments to investment for faster growth would achieve the International Poverty Targets. Therefore, debt relief must be combined with redistribution measures to achieve those targets.

Citation

Weeks, J., & Dagdeviren, H. (2001, August). How much poverty could HIPC reduce? CDPR Discussion Paper 2001. Paper presented at WIDER Development Conference: Debt Relief, Marina Congress Centre, Helsinki

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: WIDER Development Conference: Debt Relief
• Start Date: Aug 17, 2001
• End Date: Aug 18, 2001
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 15, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Publisher URL: https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/handle/2299/680
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference