15. Causes and Consequences of inequality

Question 1

What are the 5 causes of Poverty worldwide?

Answer 1

1. Vulnerability to natural disasters:
   In regions of the world that are already less wealthy, recurrent or occasional catastrophic natural disasters can pose a significant obstacle to eradicating poverty.
2. National Debt:
   Many poor countries carry significant debt loads due toloans from wealthier nations and international financial institutions.
3. Discrimination and social inequality:
   According to the United Nations Social Policy and Development Division, “inequalities in income distribution and access to productive resources, basic social services, opportunities, markets, and information have been on the rise worldwide, often causing and exacerbating poverty.”
4. War & political instability:
   Both of these factors have often been tied to histories of colonialism, but whatever the causes of war and political upheaval, it is clear that safety, stability and security are essential for subsistence and, beyond that, economic prosperity and growth.
5. History:
   Many of the poorest nations in the world wereformer colonies, slave-exporting areas and territories from which resources had been systematically extracted for the benefit of colonizing countries.

Question 2

What are the 5 causes of Poverty in the UK?

Answer 2

1. Inequality in Wages and Earnings Growth:
   e. g due to the growth in part time and temporary jobs which tend to be low paid.
2. Higher levels of Structural and Long term Unemployment:
   Unemployment is the biggest cause of poverty in the UK because people rely only on benefits.
3. Falling Relative Value of State Benefits:
   Pensions and other benefits are index linked (this means rising in line with inflation) This tends to be less than wages which increase faster than inflation.
4. Inheritance:
   This allows wealth inequality to be passed on and is quite important due to the housing market.
5. Regressive Taxes.
   Tax changes in the 1980s and 1990s have put a higher burden of tax on the poor. There has been a shift in taxes from progressive income tax to regressive, indirect Taxes.

Question 3

What are the 3 consequences of Poverty?

Answer 3

1. Malnutrition:
   - This is especially seen in children of poor families
   - People living in poverty rarely have access to highly nutritious foods.
   - Evenif they have access to these foods, it is unlikely that they are able to purchase them.
2. Health:
   - This includes things from diseases to life expectancy to medicine.
   - Diseases are very common in people living in poverty because they lack the resources to maintain a healthy living environment.
3. Education:
   - Many people living in poverty are unable to attend school from a very early age. Families may not be able to afford the necessary clothing or school supplies.
   - Without the ability to attend school, many people go through life illiterate.