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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Meaning Of Poverty: Questions Of Distribution And Power, Arthur Macewan
The Meaning Of Poverty: Questions Of Distribution And Power, Arthur Macewan
Economics Faculty Publication Series
Focusing on the low-income parts of the world and reviewing the different ways we can define poverty, I first argue that what people generally mean by poverty – or, more broadly, by economic well-being – cannot be adequately captured by a single, absolute measure such as income level or a more complex aggregate such as the Human Development Index. Not only do these measures fail to account for the complexity of human material needs, but they also fail to recognize the importance of distributional issues. The failure to incorporate a consideration of distribution in defining poverty (or, more generally, economic …
Why Equality? How Equality?: The Desirability Of A Focus On Income Distribution, Arthur Macewan
Why Equality? How Equality?: The Desirability Of A Focus On Income Distribution, Arthur Macewan
Economics Faculty Publication Series
Much of the discussion of economic development in low and middle income countries and of poverty reduction has either ignored the issue of income distribution or has tended to view income distribution only in terms of its impact on economic growth. In this paper I argue that such an approach is misguided. I will explain, first, why I believe that it is desirable to give a great deal of attention to income distribution in the analysis of economic development and poverty reduction. My argument includes conceptual, political and practical elements. Second, I will suggest some of the ways in which …