Post-Washington Consensus (poverty)

Question 1

what is absolute vs relative poverty?

Answer 1

absolute pov: minimal daily physical needs not met

relative pov: in relation to others in that society

Question 2

what is objective vs subjective poverty

Answer 2

objective pov: empirically examined (e.g. property, land, health)
subjective pov: perceptions of people (e.g. dependence, status)

Question 3

what are the advantages of hard quantitative data and qualitative data to measure poverty?

Answer 3

quantitative:
(a) comparability
(b) detailed
qualitative:
(a) deeper
(b) more context

Question 4

what are the disadvantages of hard quantitative data and qualitative data to measure poverty?

Answer 4

quantitative:
(a) not attuned to context and causes
qualitative:
(a) normaive?
(b) less comparability

Question 5

what are the different approaches to resolve poverty?

Answer 5

1. individualistic/voluntarist approaches

2. structural approaches

Question 6

what are the individualistic/voluntarist approaches to resolve poverty?

Answer 6

• neoliberal and modernization framework
• poverty = result from bad luck (undeserving) + poor choices (deserving)
• poverty = temporary (will go away if national income increases)
• create econ growth through the market
• growth: necessary but insufficient for poverty reduction

Question 7

what are the structural approaches to resolve poverty?

Answer 7

• poverty = result from lack of opportunities inherent in social and econ. structures
  
  • > result of poverty traps
  • > multidimensional
  • > requires reforms and redistribution (investment in edu, food security, safety nets…)

Question 8

what are micro vs macro level poverty traps?

Answer 8

micro poverty traps:
- edu, health, knowledge, income -> low productivity, low income, health decline…
macro poverty traps:
- demographic trap: national income growth needs to keep up with population growth
- taxation trap: low gov income -> low gov investment in edu and social services

Question 9

How did the augmented/post-washington consensus emerge?

Answer 9

• policy outcome of 1990s-present (inclusive neoliberalism)
• poor SAP results of Washington consensus -> 2 pronged reaction:
  (1) reexamine role of state in dev
  (2) reemphasize need to address poverty
• poverty reduction and social services needs comprehensive social policy
• culminated in ‘global compact’

Question 10

what are the main principles of the augmented/post-washington consensus?

Answer 10

• partnernship between rich and poor countries (common fight against poverty)
  (1) developing countries formulate Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRSP)
  (2) UN: worldwide dev goals and targets to steer development policy

Question 11

What are Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSPs)

Answer 11

• multisectoral approach
• gov in developing country formulates own plan -> ownership
• participative policy (IFIs and donors approve and contribute + process conditionality)

Question 12

what is the global compact?

Answer 12

within UN, m.s. agree to development goals -> concrete and measurable targets with deadline

Question 13

what did the successor goals of 2030 (SDGs) add (vs. 2015 ones MDGs)?

Answer 13

1. 2-sided:
   (a) donors provide aid, relieve debt, provide access to markets
   (b) developing countries (receivers) commit to good policies
2. focus on outputs
3. more concreteness and measurability

Question 14

What is the MDG goal number uno?

Answer 14

• theme: eradicate extreme pov and hunger by 2015

- target: 1/2 the people on less than 1.25 dollars a day

Question 15

what were the results of the MDG goal numero uno?

Answer 15

• reduction of poverty from 36% to 10%
  
  • > but it was mostly India and China though)
• African, central America, SEA: increase in povrety

Question 16

What is the SDG goal number uno?

Answer 16

• theme: eradicate extreme poverty still
• target:
  (a) eradicate for all
  (b) reduce by half relative poverty
  (c) implement nationally appropriate social protection systems

Question 17

what were the results of the SDG goal numero uno?

Answer 17

• in 2030: still 6% in extreme poverty
• SEA, sub-subharan africa: increase in poverty
• 1/5 children in extreme poverty
• 2016: 55% benefit from no social protection at all

Question 18

What does Sachs advocate for to reduce poverty?

Answer 18

• ‘The Big Push’ -> fill gap
• ‘fix the plumbing’ -> pipes for dev clogged or too narrow -> need to scale up channels
• so: increase development assistance
• top-down planning

Question 19

According to Sachs, what causes poverty?

Answer 19

• poverty traps (vs. bad governance)
  1. too little savings
  2. demographic (too many children)
  3. non-convexity in production function (input vs output)

Question 20

what have been critical responses to the MDGs and SGDs (global compact)

Answer 20

• major distracting gimmick
• easterly: repeat of history and will fail again (deja vue)
• Saith: ineffective

Question 21

why are the MDGs/SDGs/global compact considered a distracting gimmick by some?

Answer 21

• goals unfair to Africa (too far to reach)
• false progress (India and China already close to target)
• manipulation of stats for quantitative targets
• imbalance between goals and concrete target of north
• easy, quantifiable goals chosen over complex and strategic goals (technocratic approach)
• exclude rights-based dev

Question 22

why are the MDGs/SDGs/global compact considered a a repeat of history by Easterly?

Answer 22

• repeat of history and will fail gain
  
  • > too focused on state and neglects basic rights of poor
• need piecemeal approach (trial and error, small-scale, local)
• focus on incentives

Question 23

why are the MDGs/SDGs/global compact considered ineffective by Saith?

Answer 23

• poor translation of goals to targets, ingores complexity and contexts (1 recipe)
• little ambition of MDGs (some reached when adopted)
• 1 - sided focus only on pov in South
• misrepresentation invited