jueves, 8 de enero de 2015

jueves, enero 08, 2015
4:13 pm ET Jan 2, 2015

Economy

Is Global Poverty Falling? Not in Absolute Terms

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
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An impoverished area of Swaziland, a tiny monarchy.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images


Economic growth and social policies have helped pull millions out of poverty in the developing world. Or have they?

The often-heard narrative is based on data from the World Bank showing a sharp reduction in the number of people living below $1.25 per day, adjusted for inflation.


However, new research suggests a deeper look into poverty statistics paints a different picture. While there has been progress in reducing the number of people living below the poverty line, this has been achieved largely by raising those considered ultrapoor to just above the poverty line, rather than by boosting the standard of living of the poor more broadly, according to a paper from Martin Ravallion, economist at Georgetown University’s Center for Economic Research.

“There has been very little absolute gain for the poorest,” Mr. Ravallion writes in a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. “Using an absolute approach to identifying the floor, the increase in the level of the floor seen over the last 30 years or so has been small—far less than the growth in mean consumption.”

The author cites Mahatma Gandhi and the late philosopher John Rawls as a basis for looking at poverty in absolute rather than comparative terms.

“Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him,” the paper cites Mr. Gandhi as saying in 1948. “Will he gain anything by it?”

According to the data, the answer so far is not very much.

“The bulk of the developing world’s progress against poverty has been in reducing the number of people living close to the consumption floor, rather than raising the level of that floor,” Mr. Ravallion. “Growth in mean consumption has been far more effective in reducing the incidence of poverty than raising the consumption floor. In this sense, it can be said that the poorest have indeed been left behind.”

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