Investing in Education Is the Most Effective Way to Reduce Poverty
“Investing in education is the most effective way to reduce poverty”
In many ways this is a difficult statement to assess. There is no doubt that education is a key initiative in the reduction of poverty. Whether it is the most effective is harder to say for sure. We can easily confirm correlation in the relationship between reduced poverty and increases in factors such as education and health. However it is no simple task to measure and compare the level of impact a component such as education has on poverty. There are many factors and variables that influence the poverty of a country and many of these factors influence one another, strengthening or weakening their individual effects and implications. However after researching the topic I feel I agree with the statement. Before I continue to argue my stance on the title statement I will discuss the basic problem of poverty and the accepted policies and solutions.
Poverty is arguably the greatest obstacle facing developing countries in the world today. Poverty can be defined in two ways; absolute poverty and relative poverty. The absolute poverty of a country relates to the number of people who have a standard of living below a certain level. In essence it is a person’s inability to command sufficient resources to satisfy basic human needs. This quantity of resources is called the poverty line. Relative poverty on the other hand refers to the income share of the poorest section of society (Tara Mitchell, 2012). Absolute poverty can be abolished by directly raising the living standards of everyone in a country above the established level – poverty line. Relative poverty however can only be combatted by reducing the gap between the rich and the poor so that the poorest section of a society receives an acceptable percentage of the total income. In other words inequality is the obstacle to overcome.
Growth is the key initiative in ending absolute poverty in developing countries. Aid can be supplied to help boost
In many ways this is a difficult statement to assess. There is no doubt that education is a key initiative in the reduction of poverty. Whether it is the most effective is harder to say for sure. We can easily confirm correlation in the relationship between reduced poverty and increases in factors such as education and health. However it is no simple task to measure and compare the level of impact a component such as education has on poverty. There are many factors and variables that influence the poverty of a country and many of these factors influence one another, strengthening or weakening their individual effects and implications. However after researching the topic I feel I agree with the statement. Before I continue to argue my stance on the title statement I will discuss the basic problem of poverty and the accepted policies and solutions.
Poverty is arguably the greatest obstacle facing developing countries in the world today. Poverty can be defined in two ways; absolute poverty and relative poverty. The absolute poverty of a country relates to the number of people who have a standard of living below a certain level. In essence it is a person’s inability to command sufficient resources to satisfy basic human needs. This quantity of resources is called the poverty line. Relative poverty on the other hand refers to the income share of the poorest section of society (Tara Mitchell, 2012). Absolute poverty can be abolished by directly raising the living standards of everyone in a country above the established level – poverty line. Relative poverty however can only be combatted by reducing the gap between the rich and the poor so that the poorest section of a society receives an acceptable percentage of the total income. In other words inequality is the obstacle to overcome.
Growth is the key initiative in ending absolute poverty in developing countries. Aid can be supplied to help boost
Bibliography: * Lecture slides EC3040A, Tara Mitchell, 2012 * Human Rights, Health & Poverty Reduction Strategies, World Health Organisation; 2008 * Reducing Poverty and achieving Sustainable Development, United Nations Population Fund, 2005 * Growth and human capital: good data, good results, D.Cohen & M * Penn World Table, version 6.2, Centre for International Comparisons of Production, Income & Price; A. Heston, R. Summers, & B. Aten, 2006 * Inequality is bad for the poor, M