While scholars and policymakers may focus on
individual factors within that bundle, all have some
weight in explaining the dismal state of income
distribution in the region. Some explanations are
theoretical; others lend themselves to more specific
policy options.
In the pages that follow, our special feature for
the Spring issue of Americas Quarterly examines the
current debates swirling around poverty reduction.
Will economic growth alone solve the problem? Can
governments play a more effective role? Perhaps
more than in any other field, development economics has been subject to—and perhaps even a victim
of—fashionable trends.
We believe it’s time to look beyond the fashions
of the day.
Only through a sober comparison of the alternatives can the region’s stakeholders—citizens, private sector leaders, governments, and multilateral
agencies—finally crack the nut of endemic poverty
and inequality.
The section begins with a basic question. Who
are the poor? Without the ability to define the real
targets of poverty alleviation programs, neither policymakers nor private sector advocates can hope to be
effective. Economist Sanjay Reddy, one of the most
prominent critics of current poverty metrics, outlines
an ambitious alternative way of “counting the poor.”
José Antonio Ocampo takes a new look at the argument between advocates of universal programs and
targeted assistance, and suggests it may be time for
a return to the idea of a universal social compact. In
contrast, Eduardo Rios-Neto makes a rousing defense
for conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to break dead-
end intergenerational poverty and proposes a new
agenda for CCTs.
It has been an axiom that economic growth lifts
all boats. Guillermo Perry turns that around slightly
by warning that any strategy for economic growth
will be unsuccessful without addressing the region’s
high inequality. And José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs
steps into the middle of the debate on globalization
and poverty in a masterful, thorough review of the
research on the effects of open markets on everything from family incomes to job security and wage
differentials.
Breaking the vicious cycle of poverty handed
down over generations is Latin America’s biggest
challenge. While statistics can help define the problem, the central—but often under-studied—issue for
the hemisphere (and that includes the U. S.) is social
mobility. What factors enable young people to move
up the social ladder, or prevent them from doing so?
Our feature “charticle” offers an original graphic
look that we hope will, along with the contributions
of some of our region’s leading economists, make
you think in a fresh way about the problem.
As we know from the past, there is no one answer
to the reduction of poverty in the hemisphere. Ultimately, inequality—whether growing or static—
affects not just the prospects for economic growth,
as Perry argues, but also social justice and political
stability.
