Portrait of the Poor: An Assets-Based Approach

Orazio P. Attanasio, Miguel Székely, George Gray-Molina, Wilson Jimenez (), Ernesto Pérez de Rada, Ernesto Yáñez, Marcelo Neri, Edward Joaquim Amadeo, Alexandre Pinto Carvalho, Dante Contreras, Osvaldo Larrañaga, José Leibovich, Jairo Núñez, Juan Diego Trejos, Nancy Montiel, Javier Escobal, Jaime Saavedra and Maximo Torero

No 322 in IDB Publications (Books) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: This book examines poverty as a structural problem caused by the way economic systems operate. It poses a simple question: Why do poor people earn less? Case studies in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru find the poor caught in a vicious circle. They lack sufficient access to education, credit and other means to generate income, so they earn lower wages, which in turn prevents them from accumulating the assets they need to increase future income. The authors analyze the ownership and use of income-generating assets, as well as access to them. Where there are market imperfections, they propose policies to ease the constraints faced by the poor in accumulating the human, physical and social capital they need to generate greater income.

Keywords: poverty; human capital; Latin America; assets; markets; urban-rural poverty gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
ISBN: 9781886938977
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:idbbks:322

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