...In order to understand poverty one must be able to identify exactly what it is, in the oxford dictionary the definition of poverty is ‘the condition of being extremely poor’. But then one must question what is defined as poor? I will be looking at two approaches of this question, the first is the ‘monetary approach’ and the second is the ‘capabilities approach’. I will also be analysing two different measures of poverty, ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’ and to conclude which is a more accurate or a more suitable instrument in poverty measure. The monetary approach is probably the most common method of understanding poverty. It is highly used by economists and is significantly connected with microeconomic theory. Utility maximisation is the base for this approach and the main instrument used is a poverty line; this sets a threshold where if income or consumption is below, people are then classified as poor. An example of this would be the ‘dollar a day’ where any income below $1 a day is classified as poor. This approach suggests that income or consumption is equivalent to well-being. In developing countries measuring welfare with consumption would be more appropriate than using income, as income is a small component and would be an overestimate. There is plenty of data which can be analysed at household levels. However, poverty is an individual phenomenon where individuals are situated within households. After assuming some measurements between income and consumption, data at the household...
Words: 1497 - Pages: 6
...During the last 25 years, the capability approach moved gradually from an idea initially developed by the economist and philosopher Amartya Sen to a broad interdisciplinary framework. This essay will define capability deprivation and address whether it is only relevant for use in either “developing” or “developed” countries. The first section will explain the capacity approach and the distinction between poverty and deprivation. Its core claim is that the focus should be on people’s functionings (being and doing) and capabilities (effective opportunities to achieve those functionings). The second section will argue that capacity deprivation is relevant for use in both “developing” and “developed” countries by providing a multidimensional focus...
Words: 1069 - Pages: 5
...Measurement of poverty By Name: Course code+ Name: Professor: Institution: City and State: Date: Measurement of Poverty Over the past few decades, there have been dramatic socio-economic and environmental changes around the globe. This has affected phenomena such as growth of the population, rapid urban development, and increased levels of poverty (D’Ambrosio, Deutsch and Silber, 2011). It has also influenced the changes in climatic conditions, increased natural calamities which impact the socio-economic development in different parts of the world. As a result, more people have been exposed to the negative effects of the occurrence of different hazards (D’Ambrosio, Deutsch and Silber, 2011). This leaves the affected populations suffering in poverty, thus increasing their numbers. Increased levels of poverty led to the formation of policies by the United Nations to combat the rising cases of poverty with the aim of reducing the number of people living in poverty by halve before the year 2015. Formulation of the millennium development goals which features the quantitative objectives and indicators set to measure the progress towards the war on poverty eradication took course. To establish the level of poverty in the society, therefore, measurement should be performed severally using a number of available tools (Davidson and Duclos, 2000). This will aid in determination of the extent of its effects throughout the world. This paper aims at discovering the major...
Words: 3454 - Pages: 14
...The nature of poverty can be described in many ways. The obvious way to explain poverty is the lack of income. However, in the deeper meaning, poverty also includes those who lack of security, healthcare, power, and other basic necessities. Poverty can be categorised in terms of absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty is household based measure by income per year under a statistic developed by government which will aid those who are poor by giving them money depending on the number of members in the family on a yearly basis. While, relative poverty focus on people’s living with no statistic. For instance, if a family has 10 members but they have only 3 cars, they can be regarded as poor. Nevertheless, there are three common methods that use to measure the level of poverty. The first method defines poverty as a lack of income, which can be measured by World Bank. The absolute poverty for this case is a cut up point above or below the certain amount of income. Yet, this method has a major drawback. Since it focuses solely on income and ignoring other important factors such as social well-being or the general welfare of people, this method fails to provide the whole aspect of poverty. Secondly, UNDP measures poverty in terms of the lack of capability. It is known as Human Poverty Index that indicates the standard of living of the people in the country, which are life expectancy, life satisfaction, and footprint. This method provide not only deeper but also broader...
Words: 704 - Pages: 3
...country in terms of the World Bank tables but according to Wilson (2011:2) as well as Cornell and Wilson (2012:1) poverty in South Africa, despite its high income ranking, is widespread and severe. The only possible explanation for the contradiction in South Africa’s characteristics would be the deep levels of inequality experienced within the country (Wilson 2011: 2). This essay is going to prove, through looking at what poverty and inequality entail, how it originated in South Africa as well as evaluating statistical evidence, that inequality is indeed a more pressing socio-economic challenge than poverty is in contemporary South Africa. According to Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007:1) most policies now a days are somehow related to the impact of poverty on the country but in order for these policies to make a difference it is important to know what we are aiming at and therefore a clear understanding of what poverty and inequality is as well as where these terms originated from is essential for success. Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007) supply us with multiple approaches to poverty including the monetary approach, capabilities approach, social exclusion approach as well as participatory approach. Universally the monetary approach is dominantly accepted and used. This approach describes poverty as being a shortfall below a minimum level of resources or poverty line which is assessed through whether the individual can meet the requirements of an adequate diet as well as being...
Words: 1531 - Pages: 7
...Literature on the determinant of poverty is well established. However, there is a growing uncertainty on how to measure poverty. As previously noted in the introduction, there are studies that have used the money-matric approach (see for example, Glewwe, 1991; Meyer et al., 2003; Mukherjee and Benson, 2003; Datt and Jolliffe, 2005; Guzman et al., 2006; Muller, 2007; Akerele and Adewuyi, 2011), while other studies have applied the none-monetary approach ( see for example, Booysen, 2002; Sahn and Stifel, 2003; Sricharon and Buchenriede, 2006; Vyas and Kumaranayake, 2006; Simelani, 2007; Booysen et al., 2008; Bouhadi et al., 2008; Simelani, 2009; Achia et al., 2010; Ahmed and Sikande, 2011; Jawad et al, 2011; Epo and Baye, 2012; Tsehay and Bauer,...
Words: 1820 - Pages: 8
...ABSOLUTE POVERTY ON YOUNG WOMEN: A CASE STUDY OF EPWORTH BY MASARA WIRIRANAI. B. (R121680Y) FACULTY OF SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY 2015 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE HONOURS DEGREE IN SOCIOLOGY (SUPERVISOR Ms CHOGUYA) 1 Dedication I dedicate this research work to my late mother. You influenced every aspect of carrying out this study. It’s sad though that you are not around to witness who I have become. You may be gone but you are never over! 2 ACRONYMS ADB Asian Development Bank CSO Central Statistics Office DESA Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division ESAP Economic Structural Adjustment Programme FPL Food Poverty Line HDL Human Development Index MPSLSW Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare NGO Non-Governmental Organizations PASS Poverty Assessment Study Survey PDL Poverty Datum Line PICES Poverty and Income Expenditures Survey PRD Parliament Research Department PRFT Poverty Reduction Forum Trust TCPL Total Consumption Poverty Line UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNESASD United Nations Economic and Social Affairs Statistic Department UN-Habitat United Nations Human Settlement Programme USA United States of America Zimstat Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency 3 Abstract The study focused on identifying, measuring and assessing the nature and extent of impacts of urban absolute poverty on young...
Words: 12395 - Pages: 50
...Who are the poor? The answer is what poverty is. WHAT IS POVERTY? In the most extreme definition, poverty manifests itself in the form of outright starvation and destitution because individuals or households do not possess the resources which give access to the basics for survival or which enable them to enjoy some minimum standard of living. (Christine Barrow; 2001) From a theoretical Perspective of Poverty. Culture of Poverty The underlying idea is that the lifestyle of the poor differs in many respects to that of the non poor in society. Similarities have been found in this poverty lifestyle even across different societies. This leads to the development of a sub culture, with its own norms and values, which can now be transmitted from one generation to the next. Technically, the culture of poverty is a subculture of poor people in ghettos, poor regions or social contexts where they develop a shared set of beliefs, values and norms for behaviour that are separate from but embedded in the culture of the main society. Once the culture of poverty has come into existence it tends to perpetuate itself. By the time slum children are six or seven they usually absorbed the basic attitudes and values of their subculture. Thereafter they are psychologically unready to take full advantage of changing conditions or improving opportunities that may develop in their lifetime. Oscar Lewis. Marxist Perspectives Conflict theorists posit that poverty results from the failure of the state...
Words: 1598 - Pages: 7
...A CASE OF POVERTY IN KENYA INTRODUCTION MEANING OF POVERTY The synonyms of poverty can be said to be beggary, indigence, neediness, hardship, a state of being extremely poor inferior in quality and in amount or the scarcity and deficiency, shortages, absence or lack more in amount. Therefore is a condition where people’s basic needs for food, clothing and shelter are not being met. Poverty is generally of two types i.e. absolute and relative poverty. Absolute poverty is synonymous with destitution and occur when people cannot obtain adequate resources (measured in terms of calories or nutrition) to support a minimum level of physical health. It also includes deprivation of basic human needs including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. The graph below shows the proportion of the world population in extreme poverty between 1981-2008 according to the World Bank . Relative poverty occur when people do not enjoy a certain minimum level of living standards as determined by the government (enjoyed by the bulk of the population that vary from country to country or within the same country. 1964, in a joint committee, economic presidents’ report in US, Republicans endorsed the concept of relative poverty, ‘no objective definition of poverty exists… The definition varies from place to place and time to time. Different people and organizations view poverty differently. For example, Adam Smith in 1776 in Wealth...
Words: 3040 - Pages: 13
...two ago. There have also been remarkable changes beyond the economic sphere. The twentieth century has established democratic and participatory governance as the preeminent model of political organization. Concepts of human rights and political liberty are now very much a part of the prevailing rhetoric. People live much longer, on an average, than ever before. Also, the different regions of the globe are now more closely linked than they have ever been. This is so not only in the fields of trade, commerce and communication, but also in terms of interactive ideas and ideals. And yet we also live in a world with remarkable deprivation, destitution and oppression. There are many new problems as well as old ones, including persistence of poverty and unfulfilled elementary needs, occurrence of famines and widespread hunger, violation of elementary political freedoms as well as of basic liberties, extensive neglect of the interests and agency of women and worsening threats to our environment and to the sustainability of our economic and social lives. Many of these deprivations can be observed, in one form or another, in rich countries as well as poor ones. Overcoming these problems is a central part of the exercise of development. We have to recognize, it is argued here, the role of freedoms of different kinds in countering these afflictions. Indeed, individual agency is, ultimately, central to addressing these deprivations. On the other hand, the freedom of agency that we have...
Words: 2307 - Pages: 10
...The New Growth Path: Miracle or Mirage? pg. 1 The New Growth Path: Miracle or Mirage? The South African government has embarked on a series of economic programmes to achieve job growth and redistribution goals. The New Growth Path is the latest: it sets an ambitious target of creating five million jobs by 2020. The Path contains some good dimensions, but remains largely a set of slogans: “green economy;” “knowledge based economy.” It raises some scepticism as far as its workability unless some targeted policies are identified, prioritized and followed through including coordinated monetary and fiscal policies, skilled workforce development, and targeted sector development. Precisely how important the various elements are is not detailed. South Africa: the Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty Challenge South Africa’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world: according to the International Labour Organization, which adopts a narrow definition of unemployment being “decent work”, in 2006 South Africa’s unemployment rate was over 25%, close to double the highest unemployment rate of middle income economies which is Poland (13.8%) and much higher than many of its Latin American comparators such as Chile, Mexico and Argentina (ILO, 2008). Also noteworthy is that these unemployment rates differ greatly by age: the unemployment rate of African youth (15-34 years) stood at 52.7% in 2010 (Dimant et al., 2010). South Africa also registered an increase of income inequality...
Words: 2642 - Pages: 11
...the volatility in the macro & political environment and there are several multinational environmental factors which are discussed below: 1. Government laws, regulation and policies of Bangladesh The government of Bangladesh (GOB) gradually developed seed laws, policies, and regulations for the seed sector that eventually, through various amendments, expanded regulatory oversight over both the private and public sector, and all seed varieties and the governments’ laws, regulation and policies are: * Monetary and Fiscal Policy: The regulation of the money supply and interest rates by a central bank, such as the Central Bank of Bangladesh in order to control inflation and stabilize currency. Monetary policy is one the two ways the government can impact the economy. By impacting the effective cost of money, the Bangladesh Bank as a controller of monetary policy can affect the amount of money that is spent by consumers and businesses. The importance of monetary policy in Bangladesh is: * Itsupports the...
Words: 4056 - Pages: 17
...Entrepreneurship and Poverty Alleviation: An Empirical Study Nawal Meraj Syeda Ayesha Sadruddin Rahat Shams Business Ethics Dr. Muhammad Asim 11th May, 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would also like to thank our colleagues from New York University, Abu Dhabi, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research, although they may not agree with all of the interpretations/conclusions of this paper. We would also like to show our highest gratitude to the Dr. Muhammad Asim for sharing his pearls of wisdom with us during the course of this research and guiding us throughout the course work. Table of Contents ABSTRACT 2 Keywords Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.0 INTRODUCION 2 2.0 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKAND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 2 2.1 Concept of Poverty 2 2.2 Concept of Entrepreneurship 2 2.3 GDP Growth and Poverty Reduction 2 2.4 Strategies for Reducing Poverty through Entrepreneurship 2 2.5 Relieving Poverty through Entrepreneurship Education 2 3.0 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY 2 4.0 EMPIRICAL REVIEWS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION 2 5.0 CONCLUSION 2 6.0 FUTURE RESEARCH 2 REFERENCES 2 ABSTRACT Entrepreneurship is a real wellspring of riches and employment creation, financial and mechanical development and an indication of social change. Entrepreneurs have intermittently acquired a place in the discussions of drivers of economic development. Over the world, countries that made entrepreneurship...
Words: 4714 - Pages: 19
...October 29, 2014 IS 206GENDER ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT THE IMPACT OF INEQUALITY Box 1: COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL MOBILITY ACROSS OECD AND LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES Presented by Del Mundo, Maria Naida Box 2: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL COHESION, SOCIAL TOLERANCE OF INEQUALITY Presented by Gutierrez, Cherry Lou THE IMPACT OF INEQUALITY ABSTRACT October 29, 2014 There is growing evidence and recognition on the powerful and corrosive effects of inequality on economic growth, poverty, social mobility and political cohesion. This paper finds that the real and potential impacts of inequality in relation to economic growth, poverty, social mobility, social stability and cohesion. KEYWORDS: Inequality, Economic Growth, Poverty, Social Mobility, Political Cohesion, Gender I. INTRODUCTION In relation to the worldwide gender gap, in so far as inequality also exist in political imbalance in the Philippines distinguished through the partisan move of a party, wherein, such intent, policies and term of their advocacy is their ultimate road map and reluctantly to engage in the opponent’s adherence. Colonial mindset, attributable to the Spanish era wherein their colonial stay in the country portrays the strictness and conservative ways in precluding to whom or to which is one’s belief will end up to, and upon the continuance of the American regime, where westernized ways has gotten in the minds of the Filipinos, that every choice of an American decision draws correct conclusion...
Words: 7088 - Pages: 29
...JOSÉ LUIS MACHINEA Executive Secretary ALICIA BÁRCENA Deputy Executive Secretary Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean economic commission for latin america and the caribbean C E P A L Review NUMBER 85 APRIL 2005 SANTIAGO, CHILE OSCAR ALTIMIR Director REYNALDO BAJRAJ Deputy Director The CEPAL Review was founded in 1976 and is published three times a year by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, which has its headquarters in Santiago, Chile. The Review, however, has full editorial independence and follows the usual academic procedures and criteria, including the review of articles by independent external referees. The Review is distributed to universities, research institutes and other international organizations, as well as to individual subscribers, and is also consulted extensively on the Internet. The purpose of the Review is to contribute to the discussion of socio-economic development issues in the region by offering analytical and policy approaches and articles by economists and other social scientists working both within and outside the United Nations. Accordingly, the editorial board of the Review extends its readers an open invitation to submit for publication articles analysing various aspects of economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The opinions expressed in the signed articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the...
Words: 105806 - Pages: 424
