Global poverty: rethinking causality

"Much ink has been spilled on poverty measurements and trends, at the expense of revealing causality. Assembling multi-disciplinary and international contributions, this book shows that a causal understanding of poverty in rich and poor countries is essential. That understanding must be based on a critical interrogation of the wider social relations which set up the mechanisms producing poverty as an outcome. Processes that widen/strengthen crisis-ridden market relations, that increase income/wealth inequality, and that 'enhance' the policy-biases of nation-states and international institutions toward the affluent-propertied strata cause global poverty and undermine poor people's political power. The processes concentrating wealth-creation are poverty-causing processes. Through theoretical and empirical analyses this volume offers important insights and political prescriptions to address global poverty. Contributors are:Raju J. Das, Deepak K. Mishra, Steven Pressman, Michael Roberts, Jamie Gough, Aram Eisenschitz, Anjan Chakravarty, Mizhar Mikati, Marcelo Milan, Tarique Niazi, John Marangos, Eirini Triarchi, Themis Anthrakidis, Macayla Kisten and Brij Maharaj, David Michael M. San Juan, and Thaddeus Hwong."

Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Figures and Tables -- Notes on Contributors -- Chapter 1 Analysing Poverty Causally: An Introduction -- 1 Poverty of poverty analysis -- 2 Understanding Poverty, Questions about Poverty -- 3 Overview of Chapter Contributions -- 3.1 Theoretical Reflections on Poverty's Causality -- 3.2 Theoretically-Informed Concrete Studies of Causes of Poverty -- References -- Chapter 2 Absolute, Relative and Multidimensional Measures of Poverty -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Making of an Absolute Poverty Measure -- 3 Some Problems with Absolute Poverty Measures -- 4 Relative Poverty Measures -- 5 Critiques of Relative Poverty Measures -- 6 Multidimensional Poverty Measures -- 7 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3 Poverty: A Marxist View -- 1 Defining Poverty -- 2 Convergence or Divergence? -- 3 Global Inequality -- 4 Inequality within Nations -- 5 Wealth or Income? -- 6 The Causes: The Classical View -- 7 The Causes: A Marxist View -- 8 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 4 Why Is There Poverty in the Rich Countries? A Marxist Analysis -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Poverty and the Waged Economy -- 2.1 Employment -- 2.2 Unemployment -- 2.3 Social Differentiation of Employment and Unemployment -- 2.4 Spatial Differentiation -- 3 Poverty and the State -- 3.1 State Intervention into the Waged Economy -- 3.2 Taxation of the Poor -- 3.3 Social Services -- 3.4 State Benefits -- 3.4.1 Social Insurance and Contributory Benefits -- 3.4.2 Non-contributory Benefits -- 3.4.3 Tax Credits -- 4 Social Reproduction and Poverty -- 4.1 Household, Caring Work and Gender -- 4.2 The Decline of Neighbourhood Survival Strategies of the Poor -- 4.3 Housing -- 4.4 Poor Neighbourhoods -- 4.5 Damaged by Commodities -- 5 Conclusion -- 6 A Postscript on the Pandemic -- References.

"Much ink has been spilled on poverty measurements and trends, at the expense of revealing causality. Assembling multi-disciplinary and international contributions, this book shows that a causal understanding of poverty in rich and poor countries is essential. That understanding must be based on a critical interrogation of the wider social relations which set up the mechanisms producing poverty as an outcome. Processes that widen/strengthen crisis-ridden market relations, that increase income/wealth inequality, and that 'enhance' the policy-biases of nation-states and international institutions toward the affluent-propertied strata cause global poverty and undermine poor people's political power. The processes concentrating wealth-creation are poverty-causing processes. Through theoretical and empirical analyses this volume offers important insights and political prescriptions to address global poverty. Contributors are:Raju J. Das, Deepak K. Mishra, Steven Pressman, Michael Roberts, Jamie Gough, Aram Eisenschitz, Anjan Chakravarty, Mizhar Mikati, Marcelo Milan, Tarique Niazi, John Marangos, Eirini Triarchi, Themis Anthrakidis, Macayla Kisten and Brij Maharaj, David Michael M. San Juan, and Thaddeus Hwong."