Global Institutions are the Solution to Global Poverty Essay

Over 20 percent of the global population live in unsustainable impoverished conditions, surviving on less than a dollar a day, with approximately 50 percent living on less than two dollars. Over 2 ½ billion people have a 10% infant mortality rate versus the 0.006% of infant deaths in developed countries. As conditions worsen the poor-rich gap widens through progressive decades, reaching an average per capita income of 74:1 in 1997.1 A debate has emerged as the whether developed countries possess a duty to ameliorate the living condition of the global poor and on what grounds said duty is justified.

In his 1972 article “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” Peter Singer describes how those living in “relatively affluent countries” have the moral obligation to donate to organizations that improve poorer countries’ welfare until

It is clear that citizens in impoverished nations are stuck in a poverty trap, where they are unable to escape even with the assistance of aid from well developed nations. Many citizens are contributing money to charities because there is a moral obligation to donate if it does not put us into a state of economic instability. On the other hand, no matter how much aid is being given to nations stuck in poverty, this money is not helping any of the citizens. The money is going directly into the hands of corrupt governments and corporations, who constantly use it improperly. This aspect of money misuse is clearly illustrated in Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Boo focuses the book on the impoverished slum of Annawadi, located in Mumbai, India. Throughout the book, Boo shows examples of how the citizens of Annawadi are stuck in a poverty trap because of the country’s inconsistent and inefficient systems, leading to the failure of sustainable growth and poverty reduction to the nation. India is not the only place falling victim to this problem; many other third world countries grapple with the same issues. Other than helping the nations, aid has made impoverished nations circumstances even worse, pushing it into a further state of poverty. The main components of the failure of aid are due to developing countries not having proper infrastructure and institutions, no efficient government, and a dependence on aid.

Within the last 60 years, Third World development has been a global priority, at the top of virtually every Western agenda. And with the rise of the global population and poverty levels continuing to rise along with it, it is very easy to see why human development is becoming such a topic of focus and discussion among members of the academia. But one question that everyone wants the answer too is, how does Third World development fit into Globalization? Despite apparent compatibility, when closely examined it is clear to see that Globalization actually contradicts Third World development due to the conflict of agendas. Both Globalization and Development hold views concerning market reform, social structure and regulation, which are

When most people think of global poverty, “progress” is not usually the first word that appears in their mind. However, evidence shows that global poverty rates over time should prompt a sigh of relief because the world is on the right path towards ending global poverty.

According to William Easterly, the consensus on global development is an axiomatically wrong and ostentatious position. This is not new to Easterly, who spent a number of disenchanted years as a senior advisor at the World Bank. These tumultuous years would certainly help formulate Easterly’s austere perception of technocratic solutions to global poverty. Easterly’s contentious view of technocrats becomes a focused thesis in his book, The Tyranny of Experts. In this book, Easterly argues that poverty is not a “technical problem amenable to technical solutions” (Easterly 6). Instead, poverty is a manifestation of brutish leaders quashing the rights of individuals. While Easterly presents a cogent argument against top down development, the lack

The global wealth distribution continues to be defined by a massive inequality of wealth between advanced capitalist countries and the least developed countries. The gap between the thirty richest and the thirty poorest countries, in per capital income has grown from 17:1 in 1980 to 27:1 in 2002 . Despite massive aid and trade liberalisation programmes, development strategies in poor countries have not resulted in sustainable economic development but have instead resulted in ‘massive underdevelopment and impoverishment, untold exploitation and oppressions’ . Despite the success of some newly industrialising countries, most notably China, many of the world’s poorest countries continue to be reliant on the export of raw materials and agricultural

We all know stories of the rich unnecessarily splurging on overpriced luxury items, such as a ten thousand dollar box of chocolates, a forty-five thousand dollar shirt, or even a one million and six hundred thousand dollar pair of sandals. Imagine if that money could be put towards something benevolent, such as feeding millions of people who suffer from starvation. The current issue plaguing the world’s inhabitants is the ever-widening gap between the wealthy and impoverished, resulting in social and economic troubles. As wealth continues to leave the hands of the poor, only to drop in the hands of the rich, the common people become ensnared by the various complications that arise. The excessive wealth inequality between the wealthy and poor

Over 20 percent of the global population live in unsustainable impoverished conditions, surviving on less than a dollar a day, with approximately 50 percent living on less than two dollars. Over 2 ½ billion people have a 10% infant mortality rate versus the 0.006% of infant deaths in developed countries. As conditions worsen the poor-rich gap widens through progressive decades, reaching an average per capita income of 74:1 in 1997. A debate has emerged as the whether developed countries possess a duty to ameliorate the living condition of the global poor and on what grounds said duty is justified. This inquiry prompts an ethical analysis of the world order’s role, as well as individual institutions role in worsening or failing to improve

In our modern age, the introduction of a global economy has led to a varying degree of achievements ranging from technological advances, higher life expectancies, and even the introduction of new world powers. Positive advances, they continue to reconstruct our world into an increasingly more connected and developed system of nations. However, this economic advancement is not equally distributed as continents’ economies, such as Africa’s, “have grown at an average of 0.7 percent per year” forcing civilians to continue to struggle with poverty, corruption, and disease (Sachs 30). Consequently, scholars such as Michael Walzer, Thomas Pogge, and Jeffery Sachs, each seek to explain and solution these great disparities. In the context of their works, they attempt to reconnect the civilian’s desire for an improved global economy with a responsibility toward the well being of the world society as a whole (social justice). In an effort to illustrate my point, this paper will place into conversation the scholars arguments by addressing their perspectives on obligation, strategy for achieving justice, and expand on why I agree most with Jeffery Sachs.

The problem of poverty has always plagued the world, including developed countries, such as America. It is one of the main reasons that less developed countries have difficulty developing at the pace of other countries. Many different actions can cause poverty. Most people have different opinions on why poverty still exists. “Nearly equal portions of the public in advanced, emerging, and developing countries, cite the gap between the rich and the poor as a very big problem. And notably, it is the leading economic concern in the eyes of people in major economies such as China and Germany, at 42 and 39 percent, respectively, according to the new Pew Research survey. A global median of 29 percent say their government’s actions are to blame for inequality, making it the leading cause cited. People in advanced economies, in particular, believe that their governments are responsible for the rich getting richer and equally culpable for the poor becoming relatively poorer. A median of 32 percent in those nations blame government, three times the percentage that cite the failings of their educational system and double the share who blame their tax system” (Stokes). Some people that are wealthy are also greedy. Although they control a large amount of wealth, they are unwilling to share it. Although it should not be the responsibility of wealthy people to support people in poverty, it would be helpful to the advancement of society. Another contributing reason that poverty exists is

One of the most successful efforts to reduce and more effectively measure poverty has been Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) in New York City. This paper will explain how CEO was and still is so successful in combatting poverty and will argue that its tactics should be implemented in cities across the nation. Poverty is one of the most important issues that the modern world has attempted to confront. For the most part it has been a huge success. Extreme global poverty has been cut in half in the past 20 years. This statistic is staggering, and not enough people realize how successful industrialization and the globalized world have been at eradicating extreme poverty. While this should be celebrated, there is a different problem that the United States faces while looking inward. The poverty rates within inner cities have not been following the global trends and decreasing, rather they have been on the rise. CEO has been able to turn New York City from one of the nations highest poverty rates in large cities to one of the lowest. For this reason their tactics should be looked at closely as a model for cities across the nation and across the world.

Every city has poverty. Travel around the world, I bet it wouldn’t be difficult to find a city that doesn 't have an impoverished community. Poverty is a global issue, but most importantly it’s a local issue to me in the city that I live in. Among the 10 largest cities in America, Chicago has the third highest poverty rate with 40-60% of our residents living under the poverty level. People who live in poverty are given less opportunities, resources and tools than people who live in the middle or upper class. Poverty is not a pleasant subject, however, poverty is real. In the daily lives of the poor, poverty becomes a network of disadvantages. The end result is that there is a lack of access to education, employment, health care, affordable housing, proper sanitation and good nutrition among many generations of the poor (End Poverty). Of the issues associated with poverty, the lack of access to an education stands out to me the most. In Chicago, education is greatly valued and is vital for all development and growth achievements in people. Education is the process in which people gain knowledge, help form and shape attitudes and opinions, and allow people to gain a set of skills that they can further use in areas outside of a school environment. However, education systems in Chicago are taking a huge deficit due to the effects of poverty. The effects of poverty are already big factors toward the concern about Chicago, and why it is portrayed as negatively as it is, but those

"The essence of globalisation is a subordination of human rights, of labour rights, consumer, environmental rights, democracy rights, to the imperatives of global trade and investment." ---Ralph Nader Globalisation is a widely used term in current day economy; the term has several different meanings and has only come to existence over the past several decades. The term Globalisation broadly refers to the expansion of global linkages, the establishment of social life in a global community, and growth of global consciousness, so it is the combination of a world society. Globalisation is the basic result from human innovation and technological processes, it implies that due to the increase coherence of world economies through

The variations in living standard among people from place to place and from time to time have always existed. Greed, injustice and inequality are the three sides of the triangle of poverty and wherever we see them, poverty is always there. Humans cannot overcome a serious problem such as poverty without addressing those three main causes. Even this problem is worldwide; it varies from one area to another. It is higher in areas which were colonized for a long time before such as Africa, Asia and Latin America than other areas which were not colonized for a long time such as Europe and America. We cannot imagine the swift change that happens in the last century in poverty. Surprisingly, it is only one percent of the population that controls most of the international financial assets, creating a massive change in the international landscape of poverty. It is interesting, but not surprising, to see today with modern thinking and technological progress, poverty is still growing to threaten our existence and it will not go away anytime soon without addressing the three sides of its triangle which are greed, injustice and inequality.