Proverbs, Poverty and Inequality

Maurizio Bovi
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Maurizio Bovi: Sapienza University of Rome

Chapter Chapter 5 in The Invisible Handshake, 2026, pp 37-45 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter examines how proverbial wisdom across cultures engages with poverty and economic inequality—conceptually distinct but often conflated phenomena. Drawing on sources from Africa, Europe, and Asia, the analysis reveals that folk traditions prefigure contemporary economic frameworks, including multidimensional poverty measurement, capability approaches, poverty traps, and the Matthew Effect. Proverbs convey vernacular critiques of institutional bias, inherited privilege, and the self-reinforcing dynamics of wealth concentration. Simultaneously, they encode tensions between individual agency and structural constraint, meritocratic ideals and systemic disadvantage, and distributive ethics versus elite preservation. The chapter demonstrates how folk wisdom offers both descriptive insights into deprivation and normative resources for evaluating inequality.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:spbchp:978-3-032-25194-7_5

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-25194-7_5

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