5.0 Limitations
From our findings we have come across limitations with measuring and defining poverty. Upon reading (Sen, 1976) and from what we’ve based our study around; the measurement of poverty via headcount at an income level, still ignores certain aspects of poverty. “If only the headcount matters, income could be redistributed from the poorest of the poor to families slightly below the poverty line and the official poverty measure would decrease” (Stevans & Sessions, 2002, p. 16). This is one key limitation that measures the change of income that cross the set poverty line and ignores any shifts below our line, hence poverty levels can fall and those amongst poverty become furthermore impoverished, this however would not be reflected by our data. Although this does not mean that this will invalidate our results as (Formby, et al., 2001) proved.
In addition to this the purchasing power parity needs to be taken into account amongst our selected countries. As one Dollar/Pound can buy more in one country than in another country therefore our data at dollar per head at must be taken with a view point of proportionality.
Distribution of wealth is a limitation which is of great significance to our variables. Countries that are abundant in natural resources (looking at past data) tend to have slower growth rates. These growth rates are more concentrated and certain market forces more prevalent in other economies which as a result will be far less effective in reducing poverty via economic growth. Although resource wealth can also help to beat poverty, a major limitation would be how skilful their governments were at setting market-oriented policies and macroeconomic management of these assets in relation to helping...
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...t simply down to people unwilling to take the risk.
Rural economies based on small-scale farming, with a large percentage of the poor working within the agriculture industry, when demand is high for their goods they will experience higher export growth, and therefore income growth. Whereas if the land is poor but rich in labour, we would see more income growth from increased service exports. Finally mineral-rich economies with a concentrated income distribution, the most effective measure would involve government programs to help redistribute the income into other forms, such as education, infrastructure to increase private investment. From these we can easily see what’s good for some may not help others and the fact that poverty is still with us today, even though it is decreasing, it is still as hard as ever to fully determine the biggest factors to solve it.
It is not difficult to document that poor children suffer a disproportionate share of deprivation, hardship, and bad outcomes. More than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level – $23,550 a year for a family of four. (Truman, 2005) Living in poverty rewires children 's brains and reports show that it produces prolonged effects. Also, growing up in a community with dangerous streets, gangs, confused social expectations, discouraging role models, and few connections to outsiders commanding resources becomes a burden for any child. The concern about the number of children living in poverty arises from our knowledge of the problems children face because of poverty.
Poverty in America is a very complex issue that can be looked at from many directions. There are a plethora of statistics and theories about poverty in America that can be confusing and at times contradicting. It is important to objectively view statistics to gain a better understanding of poverty and to wade through the stereotypes and the haze of cultural views that can misrepresent the situation.The official poverty line in America begins with a person making at or below $12,060. To calculate the poverty line for a family, an additional $4,180 is added to the base of $12,060 for each additional member(“Federal Poverty Level Guidelines”). According to the last U.S. census, over 45 million or 14.5% of Americans are at or below the poverty line(Worstall). At this level, the U.S. poverty level has not changed much from the 1970s when the government began a “War on Poverty.” However,
Although poverty has minimized, it is still significant poverty which is characterized by a numerous amount of things. There are two types of poverty case and insular. “Case poverty is the farm family with the junk-filled yard and the dirty children playing in the bare dirt” (Galbraith 236)Case poverty is not irretraceable and usually caused if someone in the household experiences “ mental deficiency, bad health, inability to adapt to the discipline of industrial life, uncontrollable procreation, alcohol, some educational handicap unrelated to community shortcomings” (Galbraith 236).Case poverty is often blamed on the people for their shortcomings but on some levels can be to pinpoint one person's shortcomings that caused this poverty. Most modern poverty is insular and is caused by things people in this community cannot control. “The most important characteristic of insular poverty is forces, common to all members of the community, that restrain or prevent participation in economic life and increase rates of return.
The most widely used poverty measures of Foster-Greer- Thorbecke (FGT) do not show when poverty might be eliminated. But, in this section we will try to answer for the question how long are they going to stay in poverty? following Morduch, (1998) approach which is based on Watts poverty index and FGT class of poverty measures. Morduch shows that a simple linear transformation of the Watts index gives it cardinal properties that can be useful as well.
Poverty is more functional to the affluent members of society because they are the ones who benefit greatly from others living in poverty. In my opinion, there are a great number of people who are a part of the affluent society that lack compassion for others. This in turn results in them having more financial gains and people on the other end of the spectrum falling deeper and deeper below the poverty line. Members of the affluent society has also been known to utilize the impoverished to do the “dirty work,” which are strenuous low paying jobs that sometimes require an excessive amount of hours. Working these types of jobs, are not very beneficial to those living in poverty because of the downfalls they may cause on their households. Due to the amounts of hours that may be required, the impoverished often faces risks of losing their subsidies.
Poverty is not just an issue reserved for third world countries. Instead, poverty is a multifaceted issue that even the most developed nations must battle
Poverty is still the biggest problem the world faces from day to day. Every country suffers from it to some degree, however certain places are greater effected than others. This is because the level of economic growth differs from country to country. The greater amount of growth the less room there is for poverty. This is simple reason why some countries are richer than others. If countries fail to move forward than it can present many problems. Mainly the needless suffering of many, and generally a lower level of living for all those caught in the trap. It is true that growth does create it own problems such as pollution and congestion, but these are acceptable compromises to reduce the level of poverty. The governments around the world have many policies to try and improve the workings of their economies. Governments will differ in the emphasis they give to particular objectives and the ways in which they try to achieve these. The circumstances around these change from time to time, focusing on certain objectives that need the most influence. Economic growth is an ongoing priority. Governments just have to make sure they manage what resources they have properly, in order to achieve this objective.
In 1990, Schwarz (1990) stated about one in five American families lived beneath the poverty line. According Lein (2013), it is estimated that as of the beginning of 2011, about 1.46 million U.S. households with about 2.8 million children were surviving on $2 or less in income per person per day in a given month. This constitutes almost 20 percent of all non-elderly households with children living in poverty. About 866,000 households appear to live in extreme poverty across a full calendar quarter. The prevalence of extreme poverty rose sharply between 1996 and 2011(Lein, 2013).
This nation has a problem: more of its citizens rely on the federal government for help than to support themselves with a full time job. Poverty has many negative effects on the people who suffer from it and on the economy. Everyone needs to be made aware of poverty and the many negative effects it has on people. There are things that could be done to help reduce the amount of people that are in poverty. Reducing poverty would decrease health risks, strengthen the middle class, and help the democracy.
In order for any country to survive in comparison to another developed country they must be able to grow and sustain a healthy and flourishing economy. This paper is designed to give a detailed insight of economic growth and the sectors that influence economic growth. Economic growth in a country is essential to the reduction of poverty, without such reduction; poverty would continue to increase therefore economic growth is inevitable. Through economic growth, it is also an aid in the reduction of the unemployment rate and it also helps to reduce the budget deficit of the government. Economic growth can also encourage better living standards for all it is citizens because with economic growth there are improvements in the public sectors, educational and healthcare facilities. Through economic growth social spending can also be increased without an increase of taxes.
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
Poverty is generally defined as a state of deprivation in well-being. The conventional perspective connects well-being basically to control over commodities, so the poor are individuals who do not have sufficient income or consumption to place them above some adequate bare minimum threshold (Lyman et al, 2004). Poverty is also tied to a particular type of consumption, for instance people may be considered health poor, house poor or food poor. The poverty dimensions can often be determined directly. For instance it can be measured by assessing malnutrition or levels of literacy (Alla...
There are many reasons why poverty is an increasing problem. The first is delayed modernization. These less-developed countries barely have enough skilled workers and managers and technology. Industrialized countries have four times as many managers and workers as the less-developed countries, also known as LDC's. It is almost impossible for the lower-developed countries to catch up or even compete with the industrialized countries....
To begin, there are two main types of poverty in the world, non-income and income poverty (ZPRP). Non Income Poverty is when people may have money, but only a little to keep themselves alive (ZPRP). They don’t have the money to afford physical services and social events such as schooling, work, medicines, health care, sanitation, and transportation (ZPRP). The best way to condense the cause of non-income poverty is to make sure that individuals have access to inexpensive and exceptional social services, that they feel safe when in their homes and that they have family and friends to protect them when needed (ZPRP). Income poverty is when people are living on less than 1 dollar a day, which is far from the normal amount a family can survive on (ZPRP). They tend to not have fresh food and water, medicine, live in poor houses, sometimes no houses, and have dirty and ragged clothes (ZPRP). Just as there are many types of poverty, there are many effects to it to.
Poverty is one of the most serious world problems. In my opinion, the greatest obstacle towards the develop¬ment of an economy is poverty. The primary causes of underdevelopment have a strong relationship that they together form a circle which is vicious. This is called: “Vicious circle of poverty”. There are many different opinions about the so-called “vicious circle of poverty”. Many economists have their opinions about this topic. One of them is Ranger Nurkse. In his“Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries”, he wrote that: “Vicious circle of poverty is the basic cause of under-development of poor countries”. It was explained briefly by: “a country is poor because it is poor” or “Because it is poor, the country does not develop; because it does not develop, it remains poor”. That means the poor countries can not escape from the “poverty trap". Is the theory of “vicious circle of poverty” applicable to the present day economic reality of any post-socialist country? In this essay, I want to discuss the validity of the widely held notion that the underdeveloped post-socialist countries are caught in a vicious circle of poverty and stagnation.