Causes of poverty?
Unemployment, low wages, low
levels of education, ill-health,
discrimination.
Or, manifestations?
Neoliberalism=caused by distortion of markets and limits
on competition - state interference on development of
monopolies.
RESIDUAL VIEW
Structuralism= unequal distribution of
resources, wealth & power and institutions
supporting inequality.
RELATIONAL VIEW
Intervensionism=unplanned markets creates poverty - benefits of
capitalism do not reach everyone. Intervention by the state is
needed.
People-centred development= result of intentional
development - need for economic growth rather than
directing it to basic needs.
Three writers' positions -
all 3 support the role of the
markets and economic
growth.
1) Sachs=advisor on MDG's to the UN. 'Ladder of economic development' which all
countries can achieve with aid & action. Favourable conditions for technological advances
& industrial growth for some impacts on the growth of inequality.
2) Easterly=professor of economics=critic of Sachs. Role of the state & aid. He
thinks colonisation and its effects creates world poverty - as well as bad
governance.
3) Collier= economist. 4 reasons which hold countries back 'the conflict trap, the natural resources
trap, trap of having 'bad' neighbouring countries, and trap of bad governance. Gradual measures of
change need to be supported by aid programmes & international initiatives.
David Hulme (2010)
said that 25% of
world's population
were living in extreme
poverty.
He thinks we should be concerned with global poverty as it is a moral
case, reducing poverty will reinforce social stability, historical
responsibility (colonialism) and issue of climate change.
World poverty was taken more
seriously after WW2 - Bretton
Woods Institutions.
After the failure of SAP's in 1980s - a new
focus on poverty was undertaken - with the
UNDP producing HDR to address the
multiple dimensions of poverty.
Inequalities are increasing - increases in wealth for some while majority held back.
Maternal mortality rates,
between & within countries
- not all a result of GDP, but
access to healthcare &
racial discrimination.
Differences in SA -
different opportunities
depending on skin colour
or level of education.
Inequalities
can be based
on colour,
religion,
gender,
literacy rates,
access to
healthcare -
and can be
between &
within
countries.
Measuring inequality - by using graphs made
of income data, shows that the rich are getting
richer - equality is widening.
Better ways of measuring inequalities were
adapted from graphs into numbers=Lorenz Curve
(line on a graph showing cumulative income).
Gini coefficient is the area on a graph between the
equality line & the Lorenz Curve - the bigger the
area, the bigger the level of inequality.
SEN=capabilties are such things as the ability to live to old age, engage in economic transactions &
participate in political activities - these reflect what people value. Poverty can be defined as a lack of capability.
Anthony Bebbington claims it was the power of social
movements & trade unions which pushed the
reduction of poverty in industrialised countries.
Growth in the late 20C was linked to neo-liberalism. promoting
the idea of the agency of the individual.
Low income is the most commonly
used characteristic in
conceptualising poverty.
SEN - multiple deprivations - poverty is the
same as 'capability failure'
Changes in how poverty is measured=HDI
(Human Development Index), GII (Gender
Inequality Index) & MPI (Multidimensional
Poverty Index).
Gender & poverty - men & women
can experience different levels of
inequalities.