...Global poverty and inequality are problems that affect a large portion of the world’s population. In fact, over half of the world’s population has an income below America’s official poverty standard. To understand this massive gap, one must realize that global poverty is very different from U.S. domestic poverty. The United Nations set a goal to cut global poverty rates in half in 2015. In order for this to occur, nations must reduce extreme poverty through low-income nations having faster GDP growth. This gives greater priority to eliminating the structural, cultural, and legal “inequality traps” that both impede upward mobility for the poor and inhibit economic development. Due to the increasing views on global poverty, there has been a big push regarding ways to alleviate this problem. The main sources to alleviating global poverty are medical assistance, direct aid, education, family planning, and government reform. In society, there are many different effects when it comes to poverty and discrimination. To begin to understand how to alleviate the problem of global poverty, one must understand the effects of poverty and the impact of where one is brought up. Where you grow up and who you grow up around are two of the major elements of poverty and are known as neighborhood effects. The definition of neighborhood effect is the effect of the neighborhood you grew up in on your adult outcomes. One program that the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development came up with...
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...“The problems caused by poverty were mainly responsible for Social reform, 1880-1980.” Discuss Poverty has certainly been a key factor in causing social reform between 1880 and 1980. However it has not been the only influence and along with other causal factors like war, political ideology, economic policy and political self-interest, it has played a lesser or greater part at different times over this one hundred year period. Poverty was rife in 1880 but there was little interest from the government in reforming social conditions. The prevailing attitude of the government was “laissez faire”. Samuel Smiles a social commentator championed the ideal of ‘self-help’. If poverty did influence social reform at this time, its influence was negative. The belief that helping the poor would make them lazy and dependant was a key reason why many politicians opposed the introduction of social reform. They were happy to stay with the hopelessly outdated Poor Law which punished poverty with the workhouse, believing that the poor, chose to be poor and were feckless. Charles Booth was of this opinion until he carried out a study of the poor in London between 1889 and 1903.In his book “Life and Labour of the people in London” he concluded that despite working hard, 30% of London’s population was in poverty. This shocked the public and the government. When a similar study on the city of York was published by Seebohm Rowntree it simply confirmed what Booth had found; poverty was endemic. This explained...
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...Punjab-Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (P-PRSP) Munib ur Rehman OCTOBER, 2003 Preface Pakistan has always been plagued with the scourge of poverty. This situation has worsened during the last decade. Poverty deprives people of the assets they are entitled to. It takes away their rights and liberties and it results in a loss of dignity. Now, despite many gains at the macro level and a generally healthy economic outlook, poverty still persists and continues to increase. This trend needs to be reversed. Fight against poverty has always remained on the agenda of the government. There has been a significant focus on poverty reduction through various development schemes and projects. Government of Punjab did not have a special poverty reduction programme as such in the past. This meant that while resources were spent on various poverty alleviation schemes and projects, there was no significant attention paid to the poor as the focal point in such programme. Consequentially we neither had a proper data base on poverty nor were any assessments made of the projects and Programmes vis-à-vis their impact on the lives of the poor. The present Punjab Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper [P-PRSP] is an effort to streamline the system and to ensure that poverty and the poor are specially targeted for various interventions. Similarly, review and monitoring is being ensured with a view to creating a feedback loop, allowing us to improve programmes as they are implemented...
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...| Social characteristics of Poverty, Illiteracy and the Civil War in El Salvador: | EL Salvador | | BY: Yvette Rodriguez | | While El Salvador is the smallest nation in Latin America, it has been plagued with a myriad of issues that affect many third world countries. The social issues stem from a long history of violence and government mandated reforms. Civil unrest for decades led to a twelve year civil war, this being the most defining issue in El Salvador’s history. The affects of the war are still present today, such as high poverty rates, illiteracy, high crime rates, and public health concerns. Michael Ring, director of U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities is quoted saying; Since the January 1992 signing of the historic United Nations-sponsored Peace Accords, El Salvador has experienced a series of dramatic changes-some contributing to peace and development, other’s threatening the lives of El Salvador’s majority. The sociological perspective of El Salvador is formed by these effects, as that they are still prevalent today. Conflict and revolution are significant factors in shaping a national consciousness in third world countries; consequently the consciousness of the people of El Salvador is still divided. Externally, the large group of migration to the United States in the last two decades has added to the sometime rocky relationship between the U.S. and El Salvador. Aid from the United States influences current practices in the struggling nation and have...
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...Social policies and public reform have been consistently at the forefront of American minds. Welfare reform has been a major controversy in the realm of social policy. Most Americans support the idea of equality, one of the values that our nation was founded on, although there seems to be no general agreement on how the government should alleviate poverty. The American welfare system as it is in its present state degrades the beneficiaries and serves to enrich the administrators. If the objective is to reduce poverty and promote self-sufficiency then the right signals are given off but the system is failing in practice. The key to reforming would be to combine work with education and training to help attain skills to increase beyond an entry-level position. To fully reform, the government must integrate developmental efforts in the welfare, work force, education and economic development area in an effort to create a stronger state and move people out of poverty and into self-sufficiency. Welfare was introduced in 1936 under a program entitled Aid to Dependent Children and it provided cash for low-income families with children. The number of people in the household and the total monthly income was the determining factor of an individual’s eligibility. For a household consisting of 4 people, if the income were less than $643, then you would be eligible. Recipients were required to enroll in an Employment First course that taught educational, social and work ethics to move individuals...
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...Social Problems and Issues in our Country. |Social Issues |Causes |Alternative Plan/Reforms |Status/Condition | | | |(government/agencies) | | |1. Poverty |Population growth |- Tulong sa Tao Program of the Aquino |Philippines have not been strong | | |Lack of individual |Administration; |enough to speed up the pace of | | |responsibility / Laziness |- Social Reform Agenda (SRA) |poverty reduction. This in turn would| | |Weak Agriculture sector |of the Ramos administration, |impact on the country's progress | | |Poor government policy / Corruption |- Lingap Para sa Mahihirap program of |towards Eradicate Extreme Hunger and | | | |President Estrada, |Poverty. | | | |- Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan...
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...How successful were the social reforms introduced by the Liberal’s in years 1906 to 1914 in improving the lives of the British people? Britain in the early 1900s faced a multitude of problems from poverty. Reports from Booth and Rowntree highlighted the extent of the problem so when the liberals came to power in 1906, they embarked on a series of wide-ranging welfare reforms that were designed to lift the most vulnerable members of society – the sick and infirm, children and the elderly – out of poverty. This was a massive change from the previous stance of “laissez faire” to direct government intervention. However, the success of the reforms and the impact they had on the problems that plagued Britain was questionable. Some historians have argued they were very successful. For example the liberals were able to provide more support than ever before to impoverished children. They passed the Education Act (Provision of school meals) in 1906 and the Education Act (Medical Inspection) in 1907. These Acts provided services to needy and vulnerable children for the first time ever. By 1914, a total of 14 million free school meals were being provided by LEAs and three quarters of LEAs were providing medical inspections. These reforms were designed to tackle the issue of disease as a result of poverty and to stop children being too hungry to learn. However there were drawbacks, in many cases nothing could be done to alleviate the problems identified such as the need for glasses for...
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...Dhaka and under the observation of the assigner teacher Umma Rumana Huq on 22 November 2012. Objective The broad objective of the study is to identify the various ways to finance economic growth and poverty reduction strategies in Bangladesh for attaining better economic performance and realizing the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals. The specific objectives are to: i. Review the source of finance of public expenditure and private sector investment. ii. Analyze government expenditure and private investment at sectoral level. iii. Review the fiscal and monetary policy in quest of developing a conducive framework for financing economic growth and poverty reduction. iv. Review the financing policies of the government related to social development and poverty (including policies related to health, education, women, children, indigenous people, etc.). v. Explore the challenges and options for resource mobilization to finance public expenditure and private investment. Methodology In congruence with the objectives of the study, a draft outline for the study and a framework for reviewing the national policies were prepared. While preparing the outline, the following issues were considered: analyzing past and ongoing policy reforms and their implications to growth and poverty reduction; reviewing revenue and development expenditure patterns in the national budgets, their sources and trends, identifying challenges and options; analyzing source of rural financing and agricultural...
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...surpluses to pay future bills. That strategy was highly successful. The date at which the trust fund will run out, according to Social Security Administration projections, has receded steadily into the future: 10 years ago it was 2029, now it’s 2042. As people high up, and others have pointed out, the SSA estimates are very conservative, and moderate projections of economic growth push the end date into the indefinite future. It is primarily funded through a dedicated payroll tax. During 2011, total benefits of $736 billion were paid out versus income (taxes and interest) of $805 billion, a $69 billion annual surplus. An estimated 158 million people paid into the program and 55 million received benefits, roughly 2.87 workers per beneficiary. Reform proposals continue to circulate, due to a long-term funding challenge faced by the program. Starting in 2011 and continuing after, program expenses are expected to exceed cash revenues. This is due to the aging of the babyboom generation, expected continuing low birth rate (compared to the baby-boom period), and increasing life. Further, the government has borrowed and spent the accumulated surplus funds, called the Social Security Trust fund. At the end of 2011, the Trust Fund was valued at $2.7 trillion, up $69 billion from 2010. The Trust Fund consists of the accumulated surplus of program...
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...This model has allowed for Chile to have the highest per capita income in Latin America. Although Chile has had successes with its economy, it is still considered a developing country. Large efforts have been made for the past century to secure development. While these efforts have brought Chile closer to its goal, high inequality and a relative dependency on copper prices has made it difficult for any of these efforts to have a final impact allowing for the actual transition to developed status. This paper analyzes the timeline of Chile’s economy, focusing specifically on the period of high growth of 1985 to present day and any recessions that fell between these dates. It also aims to highlight the successes and failures of the policy reforms of the past as a way to determine what will be effective in the future for allowing Chile to achieve its goal of development. Before the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500’s, the Inca ruled the northern part of Chile while the Mapuche inhabited the central and southern parts. Although Chile declared its independence in 1810, victory over the Spanish was not successfully achieved until 1818. In the War of the Pacific, Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia. This victory won Chile its presence in the northern regions. It was not until the 1880s that the Mapuche and the Incas were brought under central government control. By the...
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...no one can argue that poverty is a social issue that has serious impact on society. Although poverty means different thing to different people, to some, poverty means the some members of society are lazy, not able to take personal responsibility. For others, it means that some members of society are not getting a fair share of the wealth distribution. The point that it remain is viewed as not having enough or lacking enough resource to provide for one’s needs. But many disagree on this definition, because some scholars in the field of sociology agree that poverty transcend money and wealth. Hutchinson (2003) eloquently posits that” poverty influences the ability of parents to adequately meet their children’s basic needs. Understanding human development requires an ecological approach that views the child in a home environment duly placed in a community context, where the family strives to meet their needs and obtain long-term resources” (p.56). The social problem created by poverty is a much larger than any debate ever address. Its remains an issue of serious social concern, addressing the truthfulness about poverty is crucial to assist in the policy making process. Because ignoring the cause of poverty only obscure the nature, extent, and causes of real material deprivation of those affected. For example, according to a study conducted by the Casrsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, 2.6 million of America’s children live below poverty level. The cause is believed...
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...Term Paper: The Economics of Domestic Poverty December 11, 2014 Table of Contents: Page 2-5: Evaluation of poverty rate and suggested improvements Page 6-8: Causes of U.S income inequality Page 9-10: Describe and evaluate the welfare reform efforts of the past decade. What measures are still needed? Page 10-12: Scriptures View On Poverty Page 13-14: Bibliography Evaluation of poverty rate and suggested improvements Who are the poor in United States? The World Bank defines the poor as those who live on less than $2 a day. In the United States, however the most common way of measuring poverty is if a family’s income falls below the official “threshold of poverty”. The United States Census Bureau defines those being below the threshold of poverty as, “households who do not have a sufficient income to meet minimal food and basic needs.” The poverty threshold varies between households with more or less occupants and members under the age of 18 or over the age of 65. For example a household with one member under the age of 18-65 in 2014 has a weighted threshold average of 12,119 per year, while a household with one member over the age of 65 have a threshold of 11,173 (Census Bureau, 2014). U.S. poverty was first measured in the 1960’s through the Social Security Administration, under the help of economist Mollie Orshansky. Orshansky helped establish the official poverty threshold, by using the cost of the Department of Agriculture’s economical food plan. She estimated...
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...Senior Vice President, World Bank1 Speech delivered at Bangladesh Economic Association, Dhaka January 8, 2002 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a great pleasure for me to return to Bangladesh after nearly 15 years and to have this opportunity to speak at the Bangladesh Economic Association. I last visited this beautiful country in 1986 as a member of an economic advisory team working on tax reforms. I have followed your country’s significant achievements since the early 1980s: a steady pace of economic growth, strong increases in primary education enrollment and girls’ education, striking reductions in fertility and infant mortality rates, widespread immunization, success in exports of ready-made garments, increases in food production, improvements in disaster preparedness and flood relief, and the emergence of an impressive NGO system and grassroots strengths. These are achievements that many observers would have thought impossible three decades ago, when some were sufficiently foolish as to refer to Bangladesh as a “basket case.” The aggregate statistics on growth and poverty illustrate this progress. As you know, the growth rate of GDP per capita accelerated steadily, from less than 1% a year in the 1970s to 1.8% in the 1980s and above 3% in the 1990s. By the 1990s, Bangladesh’s I am grateful to Shahrokh Fardoust and Halsey Rogers for their contributions to the preparation and writing of the speech. I am also grateful for substantive inputs or comments received from...
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...political situation...................................................................... 9 1.2. Analysis of the economic situation.................................................................. 11 1.3. Trade structure ................................................................................................ 13 1.4. Analysis of social developments...................................................................... 14 1.5. Analysis of the environmental situation......................................................... 16 2. THE PHILIPPINES’ POLICY AGENDA ............................................................ 17 2.1. The Medium Term Philippine Development Plan ........................................ 17 2.2. Assessing the reform process .......................................................................... 17 2.3. Cross-cutting issues: human rights, gender, governance ............................. 19 3. OVERVIEW OF PAST AND ONGOING EC COOPERATION, COORDINATION AND COHERENCE ...................................................................... 20 3.1. Overview of past and ongoing EC cooperation............................................. 20 3.2. Lessons learned from past EC cooperation ................................................... 21 3.3. EU Member States’ & other donors’ programmes ...................................... 23 3.4. Aid Effectiveness, Coordination, and Harmonisation...
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...Introduction The positive relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction is not automatic. In Bangladesh, development expenditures have been growing in various proportions in agriculture, rural development, water resources, infrastructure, education and health sector. Each of these sectors impacts growth and poverty reduction differently. Allocation on agriculture, rural development, health, education and social safety net impacts poverty reduction at a higher rate and impacts economic growth too. Investment in infrastructure development, capital intensive industrialization, and some service sectors may boost up economic growth at a higher rate but may not impact poverty reduction at the desired rate. There is no doubt that faster economic growth is associated with faster poverty reduction. Since domestic/national resources fall short of the requirement, development partners play an important role in Bangladesh's development endeavour. In case of Bangladesh, in-spite of some remarkable positive performance against some indicators, aggregate poverty rates still remain high. Thus, it is high time to look forward for other options and means to accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction. Reform is Critical for Growth and Poverty Reduction The fundamental development constraints in Bangladesh are poor governance, corruption, law and order, public service delivery, and effectiveness of public expenditures to improve human development. It is important...
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