Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Eliminating severe poverty around the world?

Matthew Yglesias discusses Jeffrey Sachs' theory that we could eliminate severe poverty around the world for $150 billion per year in donations from rich countries.

By severe poverty we mean here the conditions experienced by those who live on less than $1 per day. There are quite a lot of people like that on the earth, and I think it should be clear that if we really do have a workable plan on the table to eliminate severe poverty around the world for $150 billion per year that we probably ought to pony up the $150 billion. Indeed, we probably ought to pony up something like $200 billion to give ourselves some margin of error. The moral benefits should be obvious. There would also, I think, be security and economic benefits. In practice, people suffering from the sort of dire poverty Sachs is concerned with here simply can't participate in anything we would recognize as modern political or economic life. Lifting people out of the sinkhole of dire poverty would set them up to lift themselves further up the ladder, building a better world for us all.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 2:20 PM