CAUSES AND ANALYZING POVERTY
Poverty is the
state of human beings who are poor. That is, they have little or no material
means of surviving—little or no food, shelter, clothes, healthcare, education,
and other physical means of living and improving one's life. Some definitions
of poverty, are relative, rather than absolute, poverty reduction would not be
considered to apply to measures which resulted in absolute decreases in living
standards, but technically lifted people out of poverty
THE TOP THREE
CAUSES OF POVERTY-CAUSE OR EFFECT?
·
There is usually a
good amount of talk about poverty and poverty reduction in most developing
societies. However, little if at all any attention is paid to the causes and
hence the root of this scourge. This article aims to highlight the major causes
of poverty so that instead of concentrating on how to reduce it, people can pay
attention to the roots and perhaps uproot them before the ‘tree’ grows too big.
WHAT IS POVERTY
To start with, we need to know what poverty is. Many
writers assert that there are two main types of poverty. These are absolute
poverty and relative poverty.
·
(a) ABSOLUTE POVERTY
With absolute poverty people generally do not have what
they need. They are short of basic foodstuff, shelter, clothing and adequate or
sufficient health care.
·
(b) RELATIVE POVERTY
On the other hand just like beauty lies in the eyes of
the beholder, poverty may be viewed to be a subjective term and what is poverty
to someone may not be poverty to someone else. What is poverty under relative
terms is viewed as being what some people lack in relation to other people.
Under relative poverty measures, a mean level of income may be established
under which a person may be considered to be living in poverty. Anyone living
above that level may be considered not to be living in poverty.
Whether it is absolute or relative poverty people refer
to in any particular argument or conversation, there are certain general causes
of poverty. Below are lists of the top three causes:
1. Illiteracy
·
Nelson Mandela once
said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
world.” Another one that catches my attention is Victor Hugo’s saying that “He
who opens a school door, closes a prison”. Without education people cannot
communicate with great effectiveness. They cannot share ideas and are taken
advantage of. For most people who have developed, they have learnt how to read,
how to write numbers and to be disciplined. This has helped them share,
innovate and get the best in life. The price; unfortunately, for these who have
either refused education or been denied of it, is poverty.
2. Health
·
Without health, nothing
can go well. People cannot work, they cannot learn and they have to spend huge
amounts of money on reviving or trying to revive their health at the expense of
other things. Scourges such as cancer and HIV/AIDS have for many years deprived
poor people of other basic requirements. With better health, such people may
have the opportunity to work harder and spend more on other things that could
move them from poverty in absolute terms.
3. Income
·
Just like Michael
Porter argues (in his diamond) that nations have competitive advantage so it is
for individuals. A person may be better off in terms of revenue generation solely
because of what country an individual is based in. This is the reason some
people are always trying to leave the countries they are based in for ‘greener
pastures’. If a country created the comparative advantage it needed to retain
the best people, maybe just maybe its production capacity would improve and
poverty would reduce-a better effect on the production possibility frontier.
Poverty and inequality in the Philippines
remains a challenge. In the past four decades, the proportion of households
living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly and
poverty reduction has been much slower than in neighboring countries such as
the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Economic
growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and recent episodes of moderate
economic expansion have had limited impact on the poor. Great inequality across
income brackets, regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population growth,
are considered some of the key factors constraining poverty reduction efforts.
Causes of Poverty
The main causes of poverty in the country include the following:
·
low to moderate
economic growth for the past 40 years;
·
low growth elasticity
of poverty reduction;
·
weakness in employment
generation and the quality of jobs generated;
·
failure to fully
develop the agriculture sector;
·
high inflation during
crisis periods;
·
high levels of
population growth;
·
high and persistent
levels of inequality (incomes and assets), which dampen the positive impacts of
economic expansion; and
·
recurrent shocks and
exposure to risks such as economic crisis, conflicts, natural disasters, and
“environmental poverty.”
Poverty
analysis is one of the principle steps
in formulating a poverty reduction strategy.
Analyzing
poverty
- Comparing characteristics of
individuals/households in different poverty groups
- Comparing poverty between
groups
- Comparing
poverty over time
- Analyzing
the correlates of poverty
Key Findings
The report's key findings include the following:
·
Economic growth did
not translate into poverty reduction in recent years;
·
Poverty levels vary
greatly by regions;
·
Poverty remains a
mainly rural phenomenon though urban poverty is on the rise;
·
Poverty levels are
strongly linked to educational attainment;
·
The poor have large
families, with six or more members;
·
Many Filipino
households remain vulnerable to shocks and risks;
·
Governance and
institutional constraints remain in the poverty response;
·
There is weak local
government capacity for implementing poverty reduction programs;
·
Deficient targeting in
various poverty programs;
·
There are serious
resource gaps for poverty reduction and the attainment of the MDGs by 2015;
·
Multidimensional
responses to poverty reduction are needed; and
·
Further research on
chronic poverty is needed.
The report comprehensively analyzes the causes of poverty and
recommends ways to accelerate poverty reduction and achieve more inclusive
growth. In the immediate and short term there is a need to enhance government’s
poverty reduction strategy and involve key sectors for a collective and
coordinated response to the problem. In the medium and long term the government
should continue to pursue key economic reforms for sustained and inclusive
growth.
