The relationship between poverty and inequality

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, 2023

It is just expected that societies pursue the general welfare of their citizens. How they place the well-being of people in the lowest socioeconomic stratum, however, remains the core focus of social development and policies. Poverty and inequality are two interrelated elements of research and policy analysis that inform us about how societies are placing their priorities and making progress on this ongoing and almost universal socioeconomic struggle. This is also an area where natural experiments are taking place as societies develop and apply their own priorities with regard to how to assess the well-being of people and what redistributive and social policy interventions to adopt for politically desirable outcomes. While the practice of using consumption, income, wealth, and other forms of economic well-being remains at the core of poverty and inequality measurement, the past few decades have witnessed remarkable developments in the way they are conceptualized, operationalized, measured, and analyzed. Regional as well as macro-and meso-level variations have also occurred in the way poverty and inequality are assessed and policy interventions are designed and executed. These issues are not just operational in the sense that governments seek to achieve greater growth with the aim of improving the conditions of the masses. Because real people out there have to endure real suffering and disadvantage coming with poverty and low socioeconomic standing, with lasting impact on future generations, these issues are increasingly tied with the normative idea of social justice, equity, and fairness. There is no question that poverty and low socioeconomic standing force people to accept their inferior status in society. This can be particularly difficult when economic inequality runs high, allowing the well-off sections of society a lifestyle that is unthinkable to the masses. Not only are the rich and well-off able to avoid the drudgeries or even the normal idea of "work" that is of necessity to the poor and disadvantaged, but the social and political system is also rigged as it rewards the rich through policies designed by those who count on their financial and political supports in the first place. The price of inequality, according to Stiglitz (2012), can be enormous as it threatens the political stability and well-functioning democratic institutions that have been achieved in much of the world historically and especially during the second half of the 20th century. Reducing poverty and the suffering brought about by people's disadvantaged positions is also a moral imperative, something possible according to Sachs (2006, 2012) through increased taxes on the rich as a "price of civilization" as well as a greater sense of responsibility among high-income and otherwise resourceful countries. What is needed here is the commitment to reduce poverty not just within but also across nations in today's interconnected world. Atkinson's (2015) observation of an "Inequality Turn" is also important, in which the redistributive policies of earlier periods have been reversed since the 1980s, causing a major, and still continuing, reversal of inequality globally. The fact that inequality remained relatively

This course explores the study of social inequality and sociological approaches to this topic. Evidence of social, political and economic inequality is pervasive in society, and its causes and proposed solutions are often the subject of fierce debate in academia and broader society. Growing domestic and global poverty, the persistence of racial, ethnic, gender, class discrimination and the increasing visibility of inter-and intra-country differences in wealth and income are just some aspects of contemporary social inequality. This course introduces students to ongoing debates about the sources and consequences of inequality, while also exploring how social inequality is enacted and perpetuated daily. This course will cover basic concepts and facts as well as both classical and contemporary theoretical debates. NOTE: This course will also act, in part, as preparation for the Social Inequality comprehensive exam.

International Sociology, 2012

and Mahutga). Most of the contributions treat this question in a rather general and unspecific way.

Handbook of Income Inequality Measurement, 1999

This paper explores the relationship between inequality, poverty and welfare. Several of the well-known poverty measures have shown to be in conflict with the social welfare objective of society. Despite the fact that a considerable literature on poverty measurement has grown since 1976, there does not exist a single poverty measure that could be considered to be perfect. This paper concludes that we base our empirical work upon several poverty measures that are at least consistent with the society's twin objectives of increasing social welfare and reducing poverty. * I am grateful to Peter Lambert for his helpful comments.

International Journal of Communication, 2017

Having been largely ignored for decades, the issues of economic and social inequalities have regained mainstream political attention in the Western capitalist countries in recent years. The inequality and austerity trends of recent decades pose significant challenges and implications for the prevailing models of liberal and electoral democracy, the structures and distribution of power, and in turn for understanding the role and practices of professional journalism and news media. Clearly, different conceptualizations, definitions, and framings of inequality and socioeconomic justice are central to the conduct and outcomes of such struggles over the future shape of the social order. This article begins by introducing the topic and competing conceptualizations of inequality. The second section, Modern Political and Economic Discourses and Inequality: Liberal and Others, provides a brief, if selective, overall review of how inequality matters have been addressed and understood in moder...

World Bank policy research working paper, 2011

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics, 2019

See for more information about research, publications, teaching and events. iii CONTENTS Summary vii 1 Introduction: What's the issue? 2 Why should we care? Philosophical concerns for poverty and inequality 3 Measurement issues 4 Relative poverty and inequality in the UK 5 Evidence on the relationship between income poverty and inequality internationally 6 Material deprivation and multi-dimensional poverty measures and inequality 7 Poverty, inequality and growth 8 Mechanisms relating poverty and inequality References v

Several thousands of years ago, Aristotle famously argued that 'extremes of wealth and poverty are the main sources of evil' in the world. In our time, evil signifies short, miserable and undignified lives; xenophobia, urban crime and violence. Yet a common point with Aristotle's epoch is that all these phenomena disproportionately impact the poor rather than the rich. Seen from this perspective, it can be argued that to talk meaningfully about poverty inevitably also implies talking about wealth, insofar as it is the processes and institutions that connect people differently that make some poor and others rich. In other words, attacking poverty requires a focus on inequality. However, inequality has been treated marginally in international development policy. It is as if what matters in creating a more humane world is absolute poverty. In this view, if extreme poverty is falling, governments should not worry about what happens at the other end of the income distribution. This is particularly evident when one considers the Millennium Development Goals. Several factors have contributed to the unfortunate divorce of poverty and inequality. In the 1990s, the view gained ground among some economists that high growth rates were sufficient to alleviate poverty, especially if income distribution remained unchanged. Governments were advised that they need not follow equity-based growth strategies, as what mattered most was the income level of the poor, rather than equality, whose pursuit might affect efficiency and ultimately growth itself. The fixation with growth and absolute poverty coincided with the triumph of free-market ideas and the finance and technology-induced boom of the 1990s. Even low-income countries in Africa started to experience growth in the late 1990s after the regression of the previous decade. On the eve of the new millennium, there was thus a strong belief that the plight of the poor could be improved without questioning macroeconomic policy orthodoxy and income distribution. However, an increasing body of evidence is showing that highly unequal societies need higher levels of growth than relatively equal ones to overcome poverty, and that there is no trade-off between equity and growth. In particular, poverty is closely related to inequalities of class, ethnicity and gender, which are therefore dysfunctional for development. High levels of inequality make it harder for the poor to participate in the growth process; restrict the expansion of the domestic market; may raise crime levels or cause violent conflict; and may create institutions that lock the poor into poverty traps. This clearly implies that there is a real need for specific policies that promote greater equity in

2014