IGCSE经济学培训教材(英文版).ppt

Measures of poverty Absolute poverty The inability to afford basic necessities such as food, water, education, health care and shelter. Measured by the number of people living below a certain income threshold. Relative poverty Having far fewer resources than others in the same society. Measured by the extent to which a person’s or household’s income falls below the average income in the economy. * Poverty and development indicators GDP per capita (i.e. average income per person) But… average measure will be distorted upwards by people with very high incomes And… it does not take account of what and how much people can buy with their incomes or their access to health care, education, clean water, etc. Population living on less than $1 per day Life expectancy at birth Adult literacy rate Access to safe water supplies and sanitation Ownership of consumer goods Proportion of workers in agriculture Reducing poverty What can governments do to relieve poverty in their economies? Expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to reduce unemployment Progressive taxes to reduce income and wealth inequality after tax Provision of welfare services and benefits for households on very low incomes Subsidize the building of free or low-cost housing Minimum wage laws to raise the wages of the lowest paid employees Increase the quantity and quality of education available to improve skills and job prospects Attract inward investment from overseas firms to provide jobs and incomes Seek aid from overseas governments and international aid organizations Overseas aid Food aid Financial aid Technological aid Debt relief But full or partial cancellation of public debt owed to overseas organizations may simply encourage some indebted governments to be financially irresponsible again But many less-developed countries are poorly managed and do not have the skills they need to invest financial aid wisely; and some have governments that are corrupt and misuse overseas aid