Left Behind

Jamele Rigolini, Leonardo Lucchetti, Renos Vakis

ISBN 10: 1464806608 / ISBN 13: 9781464806605

Editore: World Bank Publications, US, 2016

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Chronic poverty raises perhaps the most complex and difficult challenge for governments around the world. Chronic poverty refers to those people that persistently live in low levels of welfare over long periods, as opposed to vulnerable populations that may get in and out of poverty due to shocks. Within generations, this manifests itself by the weak link between economic growth and the income generation capabilities that hinder individuals ability to integrate productively in society. Left Behind: Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean is motivated by three questions: How many people live in chronic poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean? Who are they and how effective has been the policy toolkit in the region to address chronic poverty? This publication reviews the evolution of chronic poverty between 2004 and 2012 in Latin America and the Caribbean. From an inter-generational perspective, chronic poverty is associated with the long-term structural constraints that persist from one generation to the other, and can be framed as a problem of fairness or equality of opportunity. In addition to its links to the fairness of the social system and the capacity to move out of poverty, the chronicity or persistence of poverty also results from the lack of voice of some population groups and the lack of responsiveness of the political system to their needs. The nature and extent of chronic poverty are therefore multidimensional. Addressing chronic poverty thus requires a multi-layer, cross-sectoral policy approach that is tailored to specific manifestations of chronic poverty in a given context.

Codice articolo LU-9781464806605

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Left Behind
• Editore: World Bank Publications, US
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1464806608
• ISBN 13: 9781464806605
• Rilegatura: Paperback
• Condizione: New
• Peso: 266 grammi

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

One out of every five Latin Americans or around 130 million people have never known anything but poverty, subsisting on less than US$4-a-day throughout their lives. These are the region´s chronically poor, who have remained so despite unprecedented inroads against poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean since the turn of the century. Left Behind: Chronic Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean takes a closer look at the region’s entrenched poor, who and where they are, and how existing policies need to change in order to effectively assist them. The book shows significant variations of rates of chronic poverty both across and within countries. Within a single country, some regions show incidence rates up to eight times higher than the lowest. Despite the higher rates of chronic poverty in rural areas, chronic poverty is as much an urban as a rural issue. In fact, considering absolute numbers, urban areas in many countries, including Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, have more chronic poor than rural areas. Undoubtedly the region has come a long way during the decade in terms of poverty reduction, guided by a mix of sustained growth and increased levels in amounts and quality of public spending and programs targeted directly or indirectly to the chronic poor. While improving endowments and the context where the chronic poor live is a necessary condition going forward, the decade’s experience suggests that it may not be enough to reach the chronic poor. The book posits that refinements to the existing policy toolkit – as opposed to more programs – may come a long way in helping the remaining poor. These refinements include intensifying efforts to improve coordination between different social and economic programs, which can boost the income generation process and deal with the intergenerational transmission of chronic poverty by investing in early childhood development. Equally important though, there is an urgent need to adapt programs to directly address the psychological toll of chronic poverty on people’s mindset and aspirations, which currently undermines the effectiveness of the existing policy efforts.