Lesson 2: Poverty and Inequality

"The state of being extremely poor"

The Oxford dictionary gives the definition of Poverty as?

"Lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society"

The Oxford dictionary gives the definition for Poor as?

Major Causes of Poverty

1. Economic Inequality

2. Conflict

3. Hunger and Malnutrition

4. Lack of Good Health Care

5. Limited Access to Clean Water Resources

6. Climate Change

7. Lack of Education

8. Lack of Infrastructure

9. Lack of Government Support

10. Lack of Jobs or Livelihood

Major Causes of Poverty

1. Lack of Education

What is Education?

The word "education" comes from the Latin root educare, which means "to train" or "to mold". Latin word educere means "to lead out", meaning, Education as a process that aims to free people from ignorance.

Forms of Education

1. Formal Education: Structured learning within an institution, such as public/private school, that follows a curriculum

2. Non-formal Education: Structured learning outside of the formal schooling system, TESDA

3. Informal Education: Unstructured learning through daily experiences, FAMILY, CLASSMATES, FRIENDS

1. limited job opportunities

2. lower income potential

3. restricted access to resources that can enhance one's quality of life.

Lack of education can lead to:

Job Opportunity

Refers to a position within a company that allows an employee to utilize their skills and experience and contribute to business success.

Income Potential

Earning potential, or earning capacity, is the maximum income an individual or business can expect to earn over a specific period based on current abilities, market conditions, and other relevant factors.

Education Access

Ex. Attending a seminar

1. Learn about free services offered by gov't - Free vaccines, free contraceptives, free medicines for chronic (diabetes) or non-chronic (flu) diseases

2. Learn about free social support - VAWC

3. Learn about environment protection - Access to free seedling, earthquake drills, fire drills

Factors that lead to Lack of Education

1. Poverty

2. Cultural attitudes that do not value education

• Indigenous group (Mangyan) - Learn from the elders no need for a teacher; Ability to write one's name is enough.

• Parents' attitude towards education - To finish Senior HS is enough.

• Rural-raised - Relevance of education to job opportunity in the area. Ex. Why study criminology? Need is tour guide

3. Insufficient educational infrastructure in specific regions - Lack of classrooms, no access to internet, outdated laboratories, lack of instructional materials, absence of training facility (speech lab)

Major Causes of Poverty

2. Unequal distribution of resources

• Resources - Wealth, Land and Other Assets ...HOW?

• Resources monopolized by a small group of individuals, while majority of population is deprived.

• People lack food, shelter, clean water, limited access to education, healthcare & other essential services while others have total access.

• One of the most striking examples of the unequal distribution of resources on the planet is the existence of chronic hunger in some parts of the world.

• Price Surge - If prices of food go up, people in rich countries will not go hungry during the food crisis. This is because people in developed countries spend only a relatively small amount of their income on food

• However, many families in poor countries spend up to 80% of their income on food. If prices of certain food double, these families will not be able to buy food anymore. (Humanium.org)

Major Causes of Poverty

3. Discrimination and Social Exclusion

• Discrimination based on Racial, Gender, Ethnic and Religious grounds can contribute to Poverty.

• Racism causes poverty because of the exclusion it leads to. But in addition, poverty itself may lead to further discrimination, what De Schutter (UN special reporter) calls "povertyism." - UN Human Rights

How does Gender Inequality affect Poverty?

Women bear the brunt of most unpaid care and domestic work, spending 2.8 more hours than men on unpaid care. As a result, women and girls have less time and opportunities to access education and paid work, or to participate in social and political life. This in turn keeps them poorer than men.

How does Religious Discrimination affect Poverty?

• Examples include:

  1. Refusing you a bank loan because you're Jewish.

  2. Refusing to allow you into a restaurant because you're Muslim.

  3. Dismissing you from work because you're Rastafarian (Jamaican origin).

• Bank loan - Supposed money for business venture

• Job loss - Loss of income

Impact of Poverty on Individuals

• Poverty can have a detrimental effect on a person's physical and mental health, education and general quality of life.

• Health: Those living in poverty lack access to sufficient food, clean water & sanitary facilities that results in malnutrition and disease.

• Education: Due to limited access to education & employment prospects, hard to escape poverty achieve economic mobility.

• Quality of Life: Feelings of shame or worthlessness can result from social and cultural marginalization.

Impact of Poverty on Society

Poverty can lead to rising crime rates, lowering educational attainment and decreasing productivity.

Impact of Poverty on Society

How does poverty affect academic attainment?

Poverty directly affects academic attainment due to the lack of resources available for student success. Low attainment is closely correlated with lack of resources, and numerous studies have documented the correlation between low socioeconomic status and low attainment.

Impact of Poverty on Society

How does poverty affect criminality?

"There is a higher rate of mental illness in the poor than in the rich" (Brill 1993). Poverty can lead to high levels of stress that in turn may lead individuals to commit theft, robbery, or other violent acts.

Impact of Poverty on Society

How poverty affect productivity?

The state of poverty influences productivity. Financial constraints dampen physical and cognitive performance through nutritional deficiencies, low educational quality and poor health conditions which in turn affect productivity.

Measuring Poverty

Approaches used to gauge poverty:

1. Income-based Measures:
   Poverty Line - Minimum amount of money a person needs to fulfill the basic necessities of life, like shelter and food. When families are below the poverty line, they qualify for help from the government.

2. Multi-dimensional Measures:

   Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (UN Dev't Programme) - An index that measures the percentage of households in a country deprived along three dimensions - Monetary poverty, education, and basic infrastructure services - To capture a more complete picture of poverty.

3. Subjective Measures
   Based on how people perceive their level of happiness and the quality of their lives. These measurements can provide an understanding of the experiences of poverty that are not sufficiently captured by only objective metrics.
   - Subjective poverty is often measured by asking people in surveys what they consider to be the minimum level of income or consumption that would allow them - to live a minimally adequate lifestyle.
   - Another approach is to ask people how difficult it is for them to afford food, housing, and clothing. A household that answers "With great difficulty" or "With difficulty" is considered to be in subjective poverty.

Poverty Statistics

A family with five members needed at least Php 13,873 per month to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs in 2023. Among the regions, nine had poverty thresholds higher than the national average.

Income-based Measures

Poverty Line - Minimum amount of money a person needs to fulfill the basic necessities of life, like shelter and food. When families are below the poverty line, they qualify for help from the government.

Multi-dimensional Measures

Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (UN Dev't Programme) - An index that measures the percentage of households in a country deprived along three dimensions - Monetary poverty, education, and basic infrastructure services - To capture a more complete picture of poverty.

Subjective Measures

Based on how people perceive their level of happiness and the quality of their lives. These measurements can provide an understanding of the experiences of poverty that are not sufficiently captured by only objective metrics.

• Subjective poverty is often measured by asking people in surveys what they consider to be the minimum level of income or consumption that would allow them - to live a minimally adequate lifestyle.

• Another approach is to ask people how difficult it is for them to afford food, housing, and clothing. A household that answers "With great difficulty" or "With difficulty" is considered to be in subjective poverty.

Objective Poverty

• The percentage of people whose income is below a poverty line.

• The critical threshold of income, consumption or more generally access to goods and services below which individuals can not fulfill basic needs.

Subjective Poverty

Asking people to report whether their income is sufficient; what level of income would be adequate to make ends meet or to identify themselves as poor.

Inequality

• Definition: Unequal distribution of resources, opportunities and outcomes among individuals of groups.

• Forgis of Inequality: Economic, Social, Political Disparity

• Factors that lead to Inequality: Discrimination, Social and Economic Policies, Market Pressures

• Effects of Inequality: Slow economic growth, Low happiness levels

Forgis of Inequality

Economic, Social, Political Disparity

Factors that lead to Inequality

Discrimination, Social and Economic Policies, Market Pressures

Effects of Inequality

Slow economic growth, Low happiness levels

Ten Methods for Lowering Inequality

1. Increase access to education

2. Provide universal healthcare

3. Implement progressive taxation

4. Promote gender equality (equal pay, accessible child care)

5. Increase access to affordable housing

6. Implement minimum wage laws

7. Expand social safety nets (unemployment insurance, food aid, cash transfers)

8. Invest in infrastructure high speed internet, affordable housing, public transit)

9. Address discrimination (race, gender, sexual orientation)

10. Support small businesses and entrepreneurship