Busting the myth that capitalism is reducing global poverty - evidence for that is doctored: The received wisdom comes to us from every direction: poverty rates are declining and extreme poverty will soon be eradicated from the face of the earth. This narrative is delivered by the World Bank, the governments of rich countries, and – most importantly – the UN Millennium Development Campaign. Relax, they tell us. The world is getting better, thanks to the spread of free market capitalism and Western aid. Development is working, and soon, one day in the very near future, poverty will be no more. It’s a comforting story, but unfortunately it’s just not true. Poverty is not disappearing as quickly as they say. In fact, according to some measures, poverty has been getting significantly worse. If we are to be serious about eradicating poverty, we need to cut through the sugarcoating and face up to some hard facts. [...] According to Peter Edwards of Newcastle University, if people are to achieve normal life expectancy they need roughly double the current IPL, or a minimum of $2.50 per day. But adopting this higher line would seriously undermine the poverty reduction narrative. An IPL of $2.50 shows a poverty headcount of around 3.1 billion, almost triple what the World Bank and the Millennium Campaign would have us believe. It also shows that poverty is getting worse, not better, with 353 million more people impoverished today than in 1981. And if we take China out of the equation, that number goes up to 852 million. Some economists go further and advocate for an IPL of $5 or even $10 – the upper boundary suggested by the World Bank. At this line, we see that some 5.1 billion people – nearly 80% of the world’s population – live in poverty today. And the number is rising. These more accurate lines suggest that the story of global poverty is much worse than the spin-doctored versions we are accustomed to hearing.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 16:44:40 +0000
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