Poverty in the Caribbean

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Poverty in the Caribbean

• Data Definitions Causes
• SW24C
• Heather Ricketts (Lecturer)

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HDI Ranking of Caribbean Countries (Source UNDP
HDR 2005)
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Composition of the HDI

• 3 basic dimensions of human development
• A long and health life measured by life
  expectancy at birth
• Knowledge measured by the adult literacy rate
  combined gross enrolment ratio for primary,
  secondary tertiary schools
• A decent standard of living, measured by the GDP
  per capita in US (Purchasing Power Parity)

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Poverty Inequality in the Caribbean
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Poverty Inequality in the Caribbean
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What is poverty?

• No one agreed upon definition
• Different definitions abound
• That results in different population groups being
  deemed as poor
• Definition largely subjective
• tending to be influenced by prevailing culture

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What is Poverty?

• But poverty is traditionally defined as a
  discrete characteristic
• Poor
• Non-poor
• No disagreement over its unacceptable nature
• Basis for action (policy) - Alcock, 1997

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Meaning of Poverty

• Inability to satisfy basic needs (food, clothing,
  shelter, health, education)
• Absence of resources necessary to participate and
  to enjoy a culturally acceptable standard of
  living
• pronounced deprivation in well-being (WB, 2000)
• Inability to attain a level of real consumption
  expenditure above an appropriate poverty line
  (PIOJ).

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Types of Poverty

• Absolute
• Relative
• Subjective
• Public

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Absolute Poverty

• Absolute - ones consumption or income level is
  inadequate to meet the basic necessities of life
• depends on quantitative calculations that derive
  a poverty line (minimum std.)
• objective, scientific

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Absolute Measure of Poverty

• Reflects some standard below which it is
  believed, basic needs cannot be met - Poverty
  Line
• based on nutritional and non-food requirements
  essential to normal and healthy existence (Cost
  of Living Basket)

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Relative Poverty

• Imposes a social standard
• Based on relative position of households or
  individuals within a distribution (usually income
  or consumption)
• Involves some measure of the mean/average
  standard of the entire society
• Indicates inequality

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Subjective Poverty

• It is a type of Relative poverty
• Based on notion that opinions of people about
  their own situations should ultimately be the
  decisive factor in defining their economic status

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Causes of Poverty

• Absence of social economic policies that ensure
  protect
• Access to basic social goods services
• Health, education, housing in particular
• Quality regarding social goods (health, education
  in particular)
• Poor choices and decisions largely due to the
  lack of income assets
• Ascriptive factors
• race, ethnicity, gender
• Geographical location
• rural, inner-city - physical assets, social
  capital

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Causes of Poverty

• Exogenous shocks
• Eg. WTO rulings (39 cut in ACP price of sugar on
  EU market)
• Unemployment Underemployment
• Exclusion from the labour market (availability of
  credit poor education, etc.)
• Limited human capital
• Weak social capital
• Regions lack of competitiveness
• Deteriorating economic conditions

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Poverty Producing Agents - Oyen

• Poverty Producing Agents (perpetrators
  institutions) must be known
• Intentional
• Unintentional
• Poverty Reduction futile if poverty production
  process continues

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Poverty Producing Agents - Oyen

• Strong poverty producing agents/forces must be
  challenged mitigated
• We could argue that in the context of the
  Caribbean region, poverty producing agents could
  mean the WTO, Globalization efforts, unsafe
  environmental practices

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Effects of Poverty

• Takes away the tools to build the blocks for the
  future - life chances (Oppenheim and Harket,
  1996)
• Voicelessness and Powerlessness
• Social exclusion, marginalization
• vicious cycle intergenerational

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Challenges to Poverty Reduction Efforts

• HIV/AIDS
• Low economic growth rates
• Vulnerability to economic natural hazards
• Declining International Competitiveness
• Trade Liberalization, Globalization the WTO
• Loss of trade preferences implications for
  employment
• Declining banana and sugar industries
• Haemorrhage of highly skilled professional
  technical personnel

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The Poverty Line

• Cost of living basked comprising necessary food
  non-food items
• MOH, STATIN, PIOJ - Jamaica
• Food portion of the basket calculation and
  costing of daily nutritional requirements or
  caloric intake
• Derivation of the proportion this represents of
  h/hs consumption expenditure
• Reciprocal of food share is poverty multiplier