topic 7 Flashcards
poverty vs. inequality
extreme poverty has decreased but inequality has increased: 80% of the population shares 20% of world’s income, inequality tends to overlap with other distinguishing factors like gender, religion, and race.
poverty line; how many people living in poverty
$2/day; 2.5-2.9 billion
history of poverty
18th century: poverty isn’t the main focus in development discourse
Post WW2: modernization theory, focusing on economic growth to alleviate poverty
1970s: greater focus on poverty, and moved to neoliberal solutions to poverty
1990s: poverty reduction is consolidated in development discourse cold war, exposes weakness of neoliberalism. Poverty eradication is reframed and quantified $1/day.
1995: focus is on eradicating poverty using $1/day as a measurement world summit on social development
2000: poverty reduction is priority in MDGs
mainstream (monetary) definition of poverty
- quantifiable: the poverty line/welfare measure (poverty head count)
- narrow: simple and straightforward
- comparable, and quantifiable
- poverty is an individual problem
alternative (multi-dimensional) definition of poverty
- multidimensional: deprivation in different aspects of life, education, food resources, etc..
- qualitative: not everything needed for a sustainable life can be put in monetary terms, income doesn’t necessarily get spent on basic needs, not everything needed can be bought from the market and the market does not function perfectly.
- relative: defined by the context HDI, measuring people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria of assessing development and poverty not economic growth alone.
- social phenomena, race, gender, etc.
why do we need to measure poverty
- it identifies the people who should be targeted in terms of policy creation
- helps identify areas of policy concern and which ones should be focused
- measuring poverty helps create a system to monitor the progress.
Results-based management
this was the strategy of achieving MDGs
- it set the framework of MDGs (goals etc)
- it set SMART goals/ more realistic goals taking into account population growth and so forth
- poverty reduction focused on measurable aspects of poverty; therefore it was a-political, didn’t focus on political regime and etc
change from MDGs to sustainable development goals
Sustainable development goals went beyond MDGs in that they had politically contentious goals (reduced consumption, inclusive economic growth) and as America’s power decreases SDGs are being influenced by other values.
ontological equality
Jeremy Bentham- we are all inherently equal
equality of outcome
primary measure of wealth looks at the distribution of wealth
equality of opportunity
widespread agreement that this should be achieved; 2 reasons for inequality in opportunity: discrimination, differences in family background
equality of autonomous
the ability to choose your own life path
equity
people with disadvantages are given extra support
measurements of inequality
- Gini co-efficient- most commonly used measurement 0- perfect equality to 1- perfect inequality
- poverty rates
- income shares
inequality and power
- inequality and power are reinforcing of each other
social policy
focus on the systematic and deliberate interventions in the social life of a country to ensure the satisfaction of the basic needs and the well-being of the majority of its citizens. This seen as an expression of socially desirable goals through legislation, institutions, and administrative programs and practices.
growth of economies and social policies
the more economies grow the more social policies the enact. global south spends 2% on social policy while global north spends 20%
social enterprise
private sector enacts social policies by providing social goods while generating profit Unilever created cheap water filters for poor communities in india
types of social policies
targeting- giving services for those who need it most in a population (i.e only people below the poverty line can get food rations)
social security- pensions, employment insurance etc.
affirmative action- policies that address discrimination and promoting those in disadvantaged positions.
types of social policy regimes
liberal regimes- limited state responsibility; strict entitlement rules and targeted at low income
corporatist regimes- compulsory social policy and the service depends on what sector or occupation you have.
universalistic regimes- high state involvement; social democratic; full entitlement
argument for social policy
- it absorbs the shocks of an imperfect market and helps level the playing field
- decommodification of entitlements
argument against social policy
- too big of a burden on tax payers
- it interferes with market
- creates welfare dependencies
