Rethinking Development (original) (raw)
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Inequality and the Politics of Redistribution
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
RUNAWAY AND LOPSIDED WORLD: WIDENING GLOBAL INEQUALITY! WHAT IS THE WAY OUT
Captions such as ―Poverty in the Midst of Plenty‖, ―Poor Making Many Rich‖ and many others similar to these keep looming. Conspicuously on these themes and sub-themes, a few economists and political scientists have consciously made inquiries and thus candidly came out with findings that how wealth is being created and the dynamics involved in the creation of wealth leading to poverty/poor. Inquiries of this sort have furthered scholars and political scientists to go deeper into because wealth generation and accumulation are indeed go hand in hand. Likewise wealth generation and wealth distribution are indeed closely linked. Never in the human history have we witnessed such generation and creation of wealth. Wealth is being created at appalling levels, but a question that arises is: Has it been distributed equitably or proportionately? As against this question what manifests in India and around the world a few have acquired more wealth, while many do not have anything and therefore live under poverty and in squalid conditions. We witness how the wealth is being displayed in blatant ways that triggered to enter into yet another inquiry of the notion of ‗inequality'. There could be no justifications and rationales be given to widening of inequality within and between societies and nations. It's totally appalling and disgusting as we see and many experiencing inequality in many forms in my society as well as other. The following write ups candidly show the growing inequality and why it should be contained, regulated and not be allowed to widen:
Introduction to 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
The Economics of Inequality and the Most Deprived
Dungarpur a tribal pocket in the southeastern belt of Rajasthan is barely 60km away from the tourist hotspot destination of Udaipur, which has communities staying below the poorest wealth indicator categories. With barely any livelihood opportunities here the occupational hazards of migration and unsafe labour is rapid. Economic vulnerability and massive exclusion from major schemes is adding tremendously into the inequality charts in these pockets. Several small and large tribal pockets in India have been facing inequalities with respect to inclusiveness of schemes and opportunities. In an interview to BBC in May 2016, the famous French economist Thomas Piketty said that " India has a very strong legacy of hidden inequality and it is nearly impossible to calculate the growing inequality index due to improper data ". The level of inequality in India as high as countries like Brazil and Africa but with a larger burden on the rural poor as the urban-rural income gap is unexpectedly higher. There are several reasons to this a) according to the socioeconomic caste census report (SECC) almost 73% households in India are rural with families barely earning less than Rs 10,000 a month. If we look at this specifically in-term of the wage distribution pattern, the size of each household is generally larger with at least three to four irregularly employed adults and a couple of children. The number of members of the house does not correlate at all with the average wage earning leading to unequal share of meal, resources and opportunities. b) there exists structural invalidness in many of our polices-for example a programme like the Public distribution services allows only one or two member of the household to have the PDS card, additionally providing them with half the ration they are entitled to c) there have been very few targeted schemes in the rural sector apart from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that specifically focus on the area of wages and economic empowerment d)our developmental goals including " The millennium developmental goals " do not have a specific agenda on eliminating inequalities to prevent exclusion of the deprived.
2014
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations, including UNDP, or their Member States. Key messages of the report 3 Chapter 1: Inequality of what? Inequality between whom? Chapter 2: Why does national inequality matter? Chapter 3: Income inequality Chapter 4: Education, health and nutrition disparities Chapter 5: Gender inequality 10 Chapter 6: Perceptions of inequality: perspectives of national policy makers 11 Chapter 7: A policy framework for addressing inequality in developing countries 12 1.4. Beyond outcome or opportunity inequality 1.5. Conclusion Notes References 2 Why does national inequality matter? 41 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Early development thinkers and the inequality-growth relationship 2.3. Recent development thinkers and the inequality-human development and well-being relationship 2.3a. Human development and well-being 44 2.3b. Human development, human well-being and inequality 47 2.4. Conclusion Notes References iv Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries 3 income inequality 3.1. Introduction 64 3.2. Trends in household income inequality 64 3.2a. Global trends 3.2b. Regional trends 3.2c. Trends by income status 3.2d. Reversals in trends in income inequality 3.3. Drivers of income inequality 70 3.3a. Types of income distribution 3.3b. Relation between various drivers and different types of income inequality 3.3c. Exogenous drivers of income inequality: globalization 3.3d. Endogenous drivers of income inequality 3.4. Conclusion 94 Annex 3.A. Gini Index of primary household income distribution by country 96 Annex 3.B. Rates of redistrubution from primary to secondary income distribution by country 104 Annex 3.C. Change in Gini index of primary household income distribution from 1980s to 2000s 108 Notes 111 References 113 157 References 159 Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries v 5 Gender inequality 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Trends in gender equality of capabilities 5.2a. Education 164 5.2b. Health outcomes 165 5.3. Gender trends in livelihoods 5.3a. Labour force participation and employment ratios 168 5.3b. Unemployment rates 170 5.3c. Gender wage differentials 172 5.3d. Job segregation: shares of females and males employed in the industrial sector 174 5.4. Agency, empowerment, and relative political representation 5.5. Trends in subjective well-being and attitudes 5.6. Is there progress toward global gender equality? 5.7. Conclusion Annex 5.A. Data and sources Annex 5.B. Economy-wide gender wage gaps Notes References 6 Perceptions of inequality: perspectives of national policy makers 6.1. Introduction 6.1a. Why a survey of policy makers' views of inequality? 196 6.1b. Survey sampling framework 198 6.2. Trends and levels of inequality 6.2a. Inequality trends 199 6.2b. Inequality levels 200 6.2c. Correlation of perceptions about income and opportunity dynamics 201 6.2d. Inequality in access to services 202 6.3. Relevance of inequality as a policy measure 6.3a. Inequality as a threat to long-term development 204 6.3b. Level of priority of inequality reduction in the policy agenda 206 6.4. Measures to reduce inequality 6.4a. Views about the role of government in reducing inequality 208 6.4b. Views about specific policy options to reduce income inequality 209 6.4c. Views about specific policy options to reduce inequality of opportunities 213 6.5. Political space for action to reduce inequality 6.5a. Perceived political feasibility of specific policy options 215 6.6. The emerging picture Annex 6.A. Methodological note on the survey Notes References vi Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries 7 a policy framework for addressing inequality in developing countries 7.1. Introduction 226 7.2. Moderating income inequality 7.2a. Promoting inclusive growth patterns 7.2b. Redistributive measures to improve the distribution of income 7.2c. Improving opportunities for employment and income generation 7.3. Closing gaps in education, health and nutrition 251 7.3a. Public expenditure 7.3b. Service delivery modalities and programmes 7.3c. Strengthening institutional capacity for equality 7.3d. Governance policies to promote institutional responsiveness 7.3e. Improving opportunities for low-income households and disadvantaged groups 7.4. Addressing social exclusion by promoting agency, combating discrimination and 262 transforming inequality-reproducing cultural norms 7.4a. Broadening participation in political and public life 7.4b. Promoting normative frameworks that are conducive to inequality reduction 7.5. Conclusion 267 Notes 268 References 269 Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries vii list of Boxes Box 1.1. Definitions of income inequality Box 1.2. Horizontal inequalities Box 3.1. Global income inequality: convergence or divergence? Box 3.2. The incomes of the top 1 percent Box 4.1. Inequality and people with disabilities Box 4.2. Governance and non-income inequality Box 6.1. Objective, structure and methodology of the survey Box 6.2. When is income inequality acceptable?8 Box 6.3. Why is the reduction of tax evasion policy makers' preferred inequality-reducing policy? Box 6.4. What explains the different political feasibility of measures perceived as equally relevant? Box 7.1. Agricultural development Box 7.2. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Box 7.3. Seguro Popular in Mexico Box 7.4. Impact of conditional cash transfers on inequality in Latin America Box 7.5. Consumer subsidy policies: operational mechanisms and targeting strategies Box 7.6. Improvements to food subsidy-Philippines case Box 7.7. Tax reform in Uruguay: from a regressive to a redistributive tax system
A SEMINAR PAPER ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
Poor agriculture: India is mainly an agricultural country. About 80% people of our country depend on agriculture. But our agriculture is in a bad way. Farmers are poor and uneducated. They do not know the modern methods of farming. They have no good facilities of irrigation. They do not get seeds and fertilizers in time. Thus, the yield is poor. Agriculture is not profitable today. We face the shortage of food. We have to import it. So, poor agriculture is one of the causes of India's poverty.
Inequality in Human Development
2009
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