This is one of few known studies on poverty and poverty related issues among Palestinian refugees in Jordan. The camp refugee households identified in this research represent concrete manifestations of the ways in which the political and historical legacy translates into economic hardship today. Poverty among the refugees in Jordan represents a legacy of the refugees' inability to generate sufficient income in order to provide for themselves the 'minimum basic needs'. Therefore, poverty should be understood not only in terms of the social and economic circumstances of Palestinian camp refugees but also as a particular consequence of various policies pursued by the state over the past five decades, including the Jordanization of public and military sectors of employment, the provision of public services, and wage determination policy. In this context, the paper examines the causes of poverty and considers how various 'implicit' policies contribute towards luring and 'locking' a large number of camp refugees in poverty. © The Author [2007]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Poverty profile Refugee camps Palestinian refugees

Eurasia income distribution Asia refugee public service Jordan poverty service provision Middle East socioeconomic conditions household income wage determination