POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND THE THIRD WORLD

Poverty, a global issue, plaguing developed as well as developing nations, has become the focus of economists since early 1950s. During the last two decades, this issue has received enormous worldwide attention and various international organizations have issued their findings regarding reasons of poverty and possible remedies to its reduction and/or eradication in the world. One of the components of poverty, however, has not received due attention. This paper attempts to point out basic flaws in traditional methods used in poverty alleviation and focus on the role of the political economy and the transfers of wealth from the rich to the poor. It is imperative that the institutional framework and the policies designed by the government must be for the development of the poor and that the standard of living must be raised for the people living at the absolute poverty level in both developed and developing nations. If the issue of poverty is not checked and remedial measures are not taken the catastrophic effects would be far reaching and non-reversible.