Dario Berrebi's Blog – March 2011 Archive (3)

Social impacts of poverty: from terrorism, to child labor, and social exclusion

Poverty and inequalities, reflected by income disparities in a population, increases the risks of "mental health problems and drug use, obesity, lower educational performance, more violence and imprisonment, and many other symptoms of malaise" in the society (Judy Gaylord in bclocalnews.com).

The effects of poverty are all-pervasive and affect physiological as well as mental health. The modern and urban stress put on populations literally drive people crazy and/or violent, and in… Continue

Added by Dario Berrebi on March 15, 2011 at 1:47 — No Comments

Poverty lines:too easy to use, too easy to rig

The method of poverty lines has been under constant criticism for its partial representation of poverty (limited to income) and the easiness to manipulate them.

If there are good historical reasons for using poverty lines, they are less and less relevant as a unique tool for measuring poverty in developing countries.

Hiding behind a veil of technocracy, policymakers should rather…

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Added by Dario Berrebi on March 9, 2011 at 3:06 — No Comments

Moral and political implications of defining absolute poverty

For decades and decades debates in academic and international organizations milieus have striven to define absolute poverty. Does such thing exist? Is there anything absolute on earth, while most approaches link poverty with their social, cultural and regional context ?

Is it that necessary to rack one's brain over a proper definition of what absolute poverty is ?

What is at stake,…

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Added by Dario Berrebi on March 6, 2011 at 10:05 — No Comments