The world economy is most often named the biggest culprit in poverty distribution. All countries depend on trade, which in turn depends on infrastructure and investment. But poor countries are not developing, and the reasons for this include geography, politics and cultural factors.
Major geographical factors are climate and location. Many of the world’s poorest countries are located in the tropics, where the climate is hot and arid, soil is infertile, the threat of drought always looms and diseases flourish. In inhospitable areas, more energy goes to the day-to-day task of surviving, and less effort can be put into development. In addition, equatorial and southern hemisphere countries must rely on irrigation instead of rainfall and face the detriments of both shorter growing seasons and daily working hours.
Cultural and social factors can in certain cases be tied to race. Whenever minorities are discriminated against, it negatively affects an entire country’s productivity and economic activity. Any ethnically fractured country also must deal with competition among groups and a lesser likelihood of tribes working together for the common good. Ethnic tension divides and de-stabilizes regions, encouraging the population not to invest. The variety of subgroups in Africa goes a long way in explaining the stalled economies of many sub-Saharan countries. Africa is by far the most ethnically fractured continent, exacerbated by the fact that borders have been drawn arbitrarily, rather than around ethnic territories.
However, in terms of discrimination, it can be argued that misogyny is an even greater issue among poor countries than racism. Given the precedence of traditional belief systems, women are often limited to the roles of wife and mother. But when half of the population is denied access to education, economic opportunities and political rights, the entire earning potential of a country is undermined.
In the 2012 book “Why Nations Fail” authors Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson maintain that national politics is to blame. They’ve compiled examples of neighboring countries alike in every way except poverty status.
“It’s all about institutions,” Acemoglue said. “It’s really about human-made systems, rules, regulations, formal or informal that create different incentives.” These institutions include both formal laws and the unspoken norms of society. Acemoglu and Robinson posit that the major difference between rich and poor countries is whether institutions have the power to keep a small elite from taking over all the wealth.
In poverty-stricken countries, the rich seize and maintain power without acknowledging the needs of the poor. This harms the entire country; poor communities may not utilize the resources they do possess if there are no institutions in place to prevent elites from stealing the profits. There is no incentive to invest in land, put in work effort or build up savings. This leads to a cycle of poverty, lack of development and overall despondency. James insists that for this traditional order to change, countries must incorporate more inclusive and powerful institutions that work for the common good.
Although poverty and race are often correlated, a deeper inspection yields a host of factors that both cause and perpetuate the issue. On one hand, the multifaceted nature of the problem makes it more difficult to address. But on the other hand, the knowledge of these basic factors—and the understanding that nearly all are based around human decisions and activity—can prompt people to work on the organization of societies and change things for the better.
– Mari LeGagnoux
Sources: NPR, Global Issues
Photo: Gijn