The Politics of Poverty Measurement and Social Policies: Global Observations

Countries of all shapes, sizes, and characteristics have been experimenting with various forms of social policy to reduce poverty. However, these experiments have not allowed governments to proclaim povertyfree zones and a universally agreed upon and proven strategy has not emerged to magically reduce poverty. Part of the reason for this difficulty in devising proven strategies is political since such strategies would invoke major resource reallocations that require broad political support. In the increasingly globalized world of competitive markets, individual factors such as poor choice, lack of hard work, and bad behavior are commonly blamed for widespread poverty. But despite all the talk and rhetoric about poverty eradication, enormous resistance exists to making genuine policy efforts to reverse the belief that eradicating poverty is impossible because it imposes an undue burden on the non-poor. This is not to downplay the role of social policies in reducing poverty; Countries with comprehensive social policy interventions have witnessed consistently lower poverty rates as shown by many high-income as well as developing countries (ADB 2006; Barrientos 2011; Brady 2009; Kenworthy 2011; Korpi and Palme 1998; Wagle 2013, 2014a).