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Relevant: A study in India found that a one-time boost of capital could help families avoid poverty even decades later[0]. The truth is, you probably don't und

by culi 5y ago

Relevant: A study in India found that a one-time boost of capital could help families avoid poverty even decades later[0]. The truth is, you probably don't understand poverty. It's both much simpler and much more complicated than your personal anecdata might lead you to believe. By far the best series I've heard on this is On The Media's 5-part series breaking down the biggest poverty myths and what the current science has to say[1] [0] https://news.mit.edu/2021/tup-people-poverty-decade-1222 https://news.mit.edu/2021/tup-people-poverty-decade-1222 [1] https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/projects/busted-americas-poverty-myths https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/projects/busted-ame...

Jensson 5y ago
Poverty in poor countries and poverty in rich countries are two totally different issues though. In poor countries poor people don't learn to read, get physical trauma from being near starvation so often etc. That is relatively easy to fix, we have already fixed all of those in every developed country, that we are able to fix them in other countries by injecting money isn't big news. We already try to do that in every poor country, and it succeeded in most places where there wasn't corrupt regimes to take the money. Fixing the kind of poverty you find in Sweden is much much harder though, we don't know how to fix that. They do better than poor people in many other countries, sure, but they still do way worse than people with wealthier backgrounds in just about every measurable way.
- bserge 5y ago
- MuffinFlavored 5y ago
  how might one fix all of the US workers “stuck” making $20k-$50k/yr? that’s the biggest form of “poverty” I have interaction with. they aren’t starving, but their quality of life stinks. especially mental health because you feel like a failure for not being able to figure out how to make “easy money” like tech, influencers, etc.
- imtringued 5y ago
  >Fixing the kind of poverty you find in Sweden is much much harder though, we don't know how to fix that. It's not a question of how, it's a question of whether you care. For example, I have recently read an article about whether inflation or unemployment is worse and it is quite obvious that unemployment is worse. However, a reader comment pointed out that inflation impacts everyone and therefore people will vote for less inflation even if it is at the expense of people who are on the margin who get a job because of inflation. It's the same with housing. People vote for exclusive zoning policies that screw anyone who is born too late. In other words, we already know how these problems can be solved but we consider having poverty an acceptable trade off for getting other things we want.

by culi 5y ago

Jensson 5y ago

Poverty in poor countries and poverty in rich countries are two totally different issues though. In poor countries poor people don't learn to read, get physical trauma from being near starvation so often etc. That is relatively easy to fix, we have already fixed all of those in every developed country, that we are able to fix them in other countries by injecting money isn't big news. We already try to do that in every poor country, and it succeeded in most places where there wasn't corrupt regimes to take the money. Fixing the kind of poverty you find in Sweden is much much harder though, we don't know how to fix that. They do better than poor people in many other countries, sure, but they still do way worse than people with wealthier backgrounds in just about every measurable way.

bserge 5y ago
MuffinFlavored 5y ago
how might one fix all of the US workers “stuck” making $20k-$50k/yr? that’s the biggest form of “poverty” I have interaction with. they aren’t starving, but their quality of life stinks. especially mental health because you feel like a failure for not being able to figure out how to make “easy money” like tech, influencers, etc.
imtringued 5y ago
>Fixing the kind of poverty you find in Sweden is much much harder though, we don't know how to fix that. It's not a question of how, it's a question of whether you care. For example, I have recently read an article about whether inflation or unemployment is worse and it is quite obvious that unemployment is worse. However, a reader comment pointed out that inflation impacts everyone and therefore people will vote for less inflation even if it is at the expense of people who are on the margin who get a job because of inflation. It's the same with housing. People vote for exclusive zoning policies that screw anyone who is born too late. In other words, we already know how these problems can be solved but we consider having poverty an acceptable trade off for getting other things we want.