title: How infrastructure and financial institutions affect rural income and poverty: evidence from Bangladesh.
abstract: The mechanisms by which the poor benefit from economic growth remain a topic of debate in development literature. We address this issue in the context of rural Bangladesh, using a pooled dataset of three household panels between 1991-2001. Expansion of irrigation, paved roads, electricity, and access to formal and informal credit have (through different veins) led to higher rural farm and non-farm incomes, accounting for exogenous local agroclimatic endowments that explain a large part of the variation in the growth of infrastructure and credit programmes. However, this has not translated into substantial reductions in poverty for the poorest households.
authors.affiliation: World Bank.
authors.forename: Shahidur R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Khandker
authors.forename: Gayatri B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Koolwal
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000208:ethnology; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history; D004467:Economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005378:Financial Support; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012423:Rural Health / Q000266:history; D012424:Rural Population / Q000266:history; D012922:Social Change / Q000266:history