Sunday, January 05, 2014

An improvement in the rate of poverty reduction after World War II.



This graph is from a new post on Roger Pieke Jr.'s Blog. It suggests a radical change in the rate of decrease in world poverty since 1950.  Since such extreme poverty was concentrated in Asia, Africa and to a lesser extent Latin America, and since for much of this time the rate of growth of GDP was higher in developing than in developed countries, I assume this

How much of the change was due to each of the following factors?

  • The growth of the global economy, under the theory that "a rising tide raises all boats"
  • Decolonization, and the installation of governance in Asia and Africa more oriented to the welfare of the people of those continents and less to the service of the economies of the imperial powers
  • The diffusion of the technological revolutions that had previously brought economic growth to a small nucleus of countries to more and more of the world
  • Globalization, leading to more opportunities for developing countries to profit though exploitation of comparative advantage and attraction of international investment
  • Improved understanding of development policy, including the importance of reduced population growth
  • The introduction and growth of development assistance which led to large concessional financial transfers to the developing world as well as a great deal of technical assistance.

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