Where the poor form a majority or near-majority, why don't they vote themselves to power in democracies? 50 percent of the population, respectively, why don't poor groups emerge and take power democratically? Even in countries where the poor form a smaller but still sizable part of the population—such as India (29 percent), Ecuador (35 percent), and the Philippines (37 percent)—why are the poli...

My task in this presentation is to offer a theoretical framework for considering a practical Christian response to poverty as an integral part of the Church’s calling or mission, an inescapable element of its very raison d’etre. From the outset, we should remind ourselves that we are speaking of the poor, who are real people living in concrete situations all over the globe, not just about pover...

Overall economic trends have very different effects on different households, this study of 35 north Indian villages shows. Members of 11 percent of 6,376 households in these villages have overcome poverty in the last 25 years, but members of another 8 percent have fallen into poverty at the same time. One set of factors is associated with households’ escape from poverty, but another and differe...

Households living in extreme poverty face deprivations that cost millions of lives annually. Ending extreme poverty requires an understanding of poverty traps, including the effects of adverse biophysical and geographical factors, a lack of resources required for the investments needed to escape poverty, and poor governance. Policies must focus both on promoting market-oriented economic growth ...