GLOBAL POVERTY AMID GLOBAL PLENTY:
GETTING
GLOBALIZATION
To lift a country’s people out of poverty, you have to lift the
country out of the periphery of the global economy.
by Dani Rodrik
he proximate cause of poverty is low productivity. Poor
people are poor because their labor produces too little to adequately feed and house them, let alone provide adequately for other needs such as health care
and education.
Low productivity, in turn, has diverse and multiple
causes. It may be the result of lack of credit, lack of access
to new and better technologies, or lack of skills, knowledge or job opportunities. It may be the consequence
of small market size—or exploitative elites, in cahoots
with the government, who block any improvement in
economic conditions that would threaten their power.
40
Americas Quarterly SPRING 2012
AMERICASQUARTERLY.ORG
