
Is It Crazy to Think We Can Eradicate Poverty? - theoutlander
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/is-it-crazy-to-think-we-can-eradicate-poverty.html?_r=0
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The goal is not crazy, as long as you use definitions that would stun most
Americans. Most of what is called "poverty" in the United States is called
"wealth" in much of the rest of the world. The article explains the definition
of "eradicate poverty" being used as a worldwide development goal: "The World
Bank aims to raise just about everyone on Earth above the $1.25-a-day income
threshold. In Zambia, an average person living in such dire poverty might be
able to afford, on a given day, two or three plates of cornmeal porridge, a
tomato, a mango, a spoonful each of oil and sugar, a bit of chicken or fish,
maybe a handful of nuts. But he would have just pocket change to spend on
transportation, housing, education and everything else." As it happens, Zambia
is an apt example country to consider. The year my wife was born, her
birthplace (Taiwan) was poorer than Zambia in that same year. Taiwan has made
more progress year-on-year, more steadily, than Zambia in the decades since
then, and Taiwan is now a wealthy country. So a country doesn't have to start
with a lot to gain a great deal of wealth in less than one human lifetime.
Encouraging diffusion of knowledge and technology and especially encouraging
civil liberties and better governance all around the world could do much to
raise the living standards of people everywhere.

That said, if "poverty" is defined as having less than what "average" people
have in a particular country, it will be difficult indeed to eradicate poverty
anywhere. As Thomas Sowell has written, "The first lesson of economics is
scarcity: There is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who
want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of
economics."

