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POVERTY, INEQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENTLecture 1: Introduction
THEME 1: POVERTY
Lecture 2: Global Poverty
Poverty
- Key term within the so-called development discourse.
- Like inequality and development, difficult to define as meaning changes over time
and place.
- Turning Point: from poor vs powerful to poor vs rich
- Common sense: the poor lack something – but what? and who decides?
What does poverty look like? (Pictures)
- Kids wanting food.
- Walking to fetch water.
- Living among trash.
- Mostly coloured and black people.
Four Dimensions of Poverty
- Deprivation the poor lack something material and non-material.
- Perception of the self by the poor.
- Representation of the poor by others – non-intervention vs intervention (from poor
laws to social policy).
o Historical context: Assisting the poor has been moral duty. Specific function in
society therefore they are supported.
- Socio-cultural context.
o Historical, social or cultural context may be different and therefore seen as
poor towards another group.
Global Poverty
- New and modern social construct.
- Origins: development era inaugurated by US President Truman in 1949.
(International Development)
- Ranking countries based on Gross Domestic Product: rich vs poor. (Economic
definition)
- Poverty framed as problem and development as its solution.
, - Rich countries must help poor ones through transfer of capital and knowledge/
technology (aid).
How to eradicate (global) poverty?
- Standardisation of Needs
o International organisation setting desirable aims.
- Institution Building
- Economic Growth
- Sectoral Reforms
- Redistribution
UN Millennium Development Goals (2000)
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Global partnership for development.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (2016)
1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well-being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
10. Reducing Inequality
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life on Land
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals
,How to measure poverty?
- First data on poverty produced in UK in early 1900s.
- Today mostly produced by World Bank (based on national statistics).
- WB: largest development institution offering loans and knowledge (data) – official
mission: to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity in a sustainable way.
- WB measures poverty in terms of consumption vs UN Development Programme
measures in terms of achievements or lack thereof (multidimensional).
International Poverty Line
- USD 1.90 per day (PPP 2011) – meant to capture extreme poverty.
- Since 2017: USD 3.20 per day in lower middle-income countries and USD 5.50 in
upper middle-income countries.
- Graphs show that global poverty has decrease since 1990. Still 10% of world
population lives under the poverty line. (2015)
- 40% of the Sub-Saharan Africa region lives under the poverty line. (2015)
What can the poor buy?
- South Africa
o Some apples
o Polonie
o Spinach
o Some chicken
Human Development Index (HDI)
- Introduced by UNDP in 1990.
- HDI captures three dimensions:
o Income (per capita Gross National Income).
o Health (life expectancy at birth).
o Education (years of schooling).
- It ranks countries based on value of HD: very high, high, medium, and low.
- South Africa’s HDI 2019
o 113 (Bottom of High Human Development Index)
o Not much change since 1990 and end of Apartheid
Multidimensional Poverty Index
- Introduced by UNDP in 2010.
, - It captures same dimensions as HDI, but employs 10 indicators of deprivation (acute
poverty):
o Income, or standard of living (cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water,
electricity, housing, assets)
o Health (nutrition, child mortality)
o Education (years of schooling, school attendance)
- MPI is calculated only for developing countries and key findings are quite different
from those of WB: in 2019, 1.3 billion people, or 23.1%, were multidimensionally
poor.
Back to how to eradicate poverty
- Institution building is linked to the idea of modernization.
- Besides specific projects and programmes also funded by international donors,
economic growth and redistribution are key to tackle poverty within a country and the
domain of state policies.
Critique of Global Poverty
- Failure to see poverty within rich countries – recent example: in 2018, 14 million
people were living in poverty in the UK according to the UN Special Rapporteur on
extreme poverty and human rights.
- Lack of international political economy analysis:
o why are some countries poor? Incorporation in
o world capitalist economy under unfavourable
o terms (starting with colonialism)
- Environmental limits to further economic growth.
Lecture 3: Poverty and Neoliberalism
How do we understand poverty?
- Focus on structures (economic, political, social).
- Focus on individual behaviour.
- Let us start with the relationship between poverty and neoliberalism.
What is neoliberalism?
- Origins of the term in 1940s (Friedrich Hayek), but used to describe period from late
1970s.
- Political project (material dimension) and ideology (discursive dimension).
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