Poverty

Poverty is the majority of the Singapore’s people and nations.

Why is this?
Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament?
Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight?
What about their governments?
Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development?

Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed. Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people. In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle.

Poverty is the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine the quality of life. It may also include the lack of access to opportunities such as employment which aid the escape from poverty and/or allow one to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens. Ongoing debates over causes, effects and best ways to measure poverty, directly influence the design and implementation of poverty-reduction programs and are therefore relevant to the fields of public administration and international development. Poverty may affect individuals or groups, and is not confined to the developing nations.

Economics

Possible causes of poverty include:

• Recession. In general the major fluctuations in poverty rates over time are driven by the business cycle. Poverty rates increase in recessions and decline in booms. Extreme recessions, such as the Great Depression have a particularly large impact on poverty.
• Economic inequality. Even if average income is high it may be the case that the poverty rate is also high if incomes are distributed unevenly. However the evidence on the relationship between absolute poverty rates and inequality is mixed and sensitive to the inequality index used. In general the extent of poverty is much more closely related to average income than it is to the variance in its distribution. At the same time some research indicates that countries which start with a more equitable distribution of income find it easier to eradicate poverty through economic growth In addition to income inequality, an unequal distribution of land can also contribute to high levels of poverty.
• Shocks to food prices. Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than richer people. As a result poor households and those near the poverty threshold can be particularly vulnerable to increases in food prices.