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Root Causes of Poverty in Haiti
Global Poverty
Global Poverty- Who, What, Where, When, Why, How?
How to define it?
-“ Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.” As defined by the World Bank
-how is poverty measured? Common method is to use income or consumption levels. These vary across countries, depending on how much money is needed to satisfy basic needs. This line is called the poverty line.
-the measure set out by the World Bank is $1 per day and $2 per day.
-relative poverty is different for each nation- having fewer resources or less income than others in that country
-In developed countries, relative poverty often is measured as having a family income less than one-half of the median income for that country (MSN Encarta Online Encyclopedia)
Who is involved? / Where does it occur?
-southeast Asia, East Asia, and the pacific have the largest number of people living in poverty
-Africa has the highest percentages of poverty per country in the world
-in Latin America and the Caribbean, income poverty is more common than human poverty
How can we stop it?
The World Bank gives these steps for the different parties involved.
Priorities for developing countries:
- improving the enabling climate for private sector activity
- strengthening capacity in the public sector and improving the quality of governance
- scaling up investment in infrastructure and ensuring its effectiveness
- enhancing the effectiveness of service delivery in human development
Priorities for developed countries:
- sustaining stable and strong growth in the global economy
- ensuring a successful, pro-development and timely outcome of the Doha Round (a conference on poverty)
- providing more and better aid
- improving policy coherence for development
Priorities for international financial institutions:
- refining and strengthening institutional roles in low-income countries
- furthering progress on the results agenda
- improving selectivity and coordination of agency programs
When has it happened? / Has it always happened?
-poverty has been present in society, even before the beginning of recorded history
-the rulers of a civilization often mistreated and enslaved the poor
-social hierarchies have been present ever since then
-during the eras of colonialism, wealthier nations created a world hierarchy and took advantage of less wealthy nations for resources
-these poorer nations were self-sufficient hunter-gatherers and farmers; they became dependent on other countries for the first time, and became poor
-unequal distribution of wealth and resources generated during colonial period became more pronounced in 20th and 21st centuries
Why does it happen?
1) overpopulation- can be overcome with industrialization or mechanization
2) the unequal distribution of resources in the world economy- legacy of colonialism has left an unequal distribution of wealth across the world
**neocolonialism- multinational companies get cheap resources from the developing world; get cheap labor- these countries become dependent on the multinational companies
3) inability to meet high standards of living and costs of living- people may appear in poverty in another country by the developed countries’ standards
4) inadequate education and employment opportunities
5) environmental degradation- environmental problems lead to shortages of food, water, materials for shelter. People who live directly off natural resources are most affected
6) certain economic and demographic trends- rich get richer and poor get poorer
7) welfare incentives-may lead to people dependent on generous welfare (only applicable in wealthier countries)
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