CAUSES AND ANALYZING POVERTY

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.