The Case Study of Income Mobility : Finding Ways of Alleviating Poverty

Researcher : A.K.M. Iftekharul Haque

Income mobility from high to low is the most prevalent phenomenon of our society. But there are evidences of mobility from low to high also. Certainly there are factors, which may be good or bad considered by society that contributed to this income mobility. In the present study the researchers will try to find how a person having the income level over the poverty line falls below the line or how a person standing below the poverty line improved his/her condition and took him/her above the poverty line. Specific objectives of the study are :

• Finding the causes of the poverty. The easier way of finding the causes of poverty is to study case by case i.e. how a person becomes rich from poor or how a person becomes poor from rich. By analysing the cases, the researchers will be able to find out the causes of poverty.
  
  
• Creating Social Safety Nets. If the researchers are succeeded in pointing out the causes of downward income mobility, then it can be suggested to create Social Safety Nets for the people who are becoming poor.
  
  
• Promoting pro-poor development policies and programmes. By analysing the causes of upward income mobility the researchers expected to get some ideas about the required pro-poor development policies and programmes which can be suggested to improve the income status of the relatively poor.
  
  
• Assessing the poverty situation in Bangladesh from people's perspective i.e. how the people themselves responded and overcome their problem of income-based poverty.

Both quantitative (conventional) and qualitative (participatory approach) methodologies will be used in conducting the study. Individual case study, sample survey using household survey questionnaire and participatory appraisal will be adopted. Both poor and non-poor households, households involved with NGOs and not involved with NGOs will be compared in the study. The people whose income changed significantly will be the main focus group of the study. This is a capacity building research of the student's researchers of Dhaka University.