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Essay / A study on scarcity as a global problem and solutions to combat it
Poverty is a fundamental challenge that the global community has been facing for an indefinite period. This has a detrimental effect on the economy, social relations, politics, culture; it directly affects the fundamental characteristics of all human life such as health and education. In turn, poverty is the product of several factors operating at the global level. In other words, poverty is the result of violations of the proportions of social reproduction: the proportions of activities (the ratio of socially heterogeneous types of work, the ratio of the employed and unemployed population in social production); proportions of the state (different degrees of availability of material, spiritual and social benefits, relationships between elements of well-being and phases of reproduction); proportions of man's relations with society and nature, of people belonging to a social group with class and society. They are based on a key proportion between the productive power and the consumption power of society, the expression of which is the relationship between working time and leisure time. Poverty can therefore be present in economically poor countries as well as in rich countries. When it comes to solving the problem of poverty, it is important to clarify whether poverty is a problem that must be solved on a global level or whether it is a national issue and national governments must fight against this problem. Before answering the main question, it is crucial to have a clear definition of what poverty is, the factors that caused its occurrence and ways to measure poverty. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In modern society, the problem of poverty and inequality is so well known that whoever you ask will tell you what it is. Usually the definition of poverty looks like a standard of living in which a person does not have access to basic needs like food, water, a roof over their head, basic education, confidence in protection and much more. The definition of poverty depends a lot on who defines it. There are people who only have basic access to food and water, who like to live in a small room with their family and who consider themselves wealthy people. On the other hand, there are people who have huge mansions, cars and enough money to feed their entire family and more, and they say they are not rich enough. It probably depends on the person's personality, greed and ambitions. Additionally, if the person grew up in a wealthy environment, it is difficult for them to understand what real poverty is because they have never seen it. We always hear on the news about some very poor third world countries, where people are fighting for a drop of water, but for us it's like a movie. It is impossible to truly believe it and understand people's suffering until this tragedy happens to us. People who live in a culture of poverty experience a strong feeling of marginality, powerlessness, dependence, and not belonging. They are like foreigners in their own country, convinced that existing institutions serve neither their interests nor their needs. Added to this feeling of powerlessness is a widespread feeling of inferiority, of personal unworthiness. There is no single definition of poverty. So to get a complete idea of what it is, we need to look at some definitions. The Scottish Affairs Committeeof the House of Commons, while defining poverty, stated that: “Basically, there are three current definitions of poverty in common use: absolute poverty, relative poverty. and social exclusion. Absolute poverty is defined as the lack of sufficient resources to maintain the unity of body and soul. Relative poverty defines income or resources relative to the average. It is the absence of the material needs necessary to participate fully in accepted daily life. Social exclusion is a new term used by the government. The Prime Minister described social exclusion as "a shorthand term for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, low skills, low income, poor housing, high-crime environments, poor health and family breakdown.” "The World Bank Organization has defined poverty as: “The most commonly used way to measure poverty is based on income. A person is considered poor if their income level falls below a certain level minimum necessary to satisfy basic needs. This minimum level is generally called the “poverty threshold”. What is necessary to satisfy basic needs varies over time and across societies. space, and each country uses thresholds adapted to its level of development, its norms and societal values” After reading these definitions of poverty, we can draw some conclusions. First, poverty can be. defined from different angles be defined as a lack of certain necessary things, but it depends on the necessary things that people need. Today, governments, aid workers and activists are looking for solutions to the serious problem of widespread poverty. and nevertheless try to combat its many negative effects; It is necessary to identify the causes of poverty in order to create lasting change. Understanding the drivers of global poverty is a crucial part of the process of designing and implementing effective solutions. Most analysts agree that there is no single cause of poverty throughout human history. However, while taking into account the individual histories and circumstances of particular countries and regions, we can observe some significant trends in the causes of global poverty. The first factor worth mentioning is the story. Many of the world's poorest nations were once former colonies, slave export zones, and territories whose resources had been systematically extracted for the benefit of colonizing countries. Although there are notable exceptions like Australia, Canada and the United States, whose economy and standard of living are now incredibly high. For most of these former colonies, colonialism and its legacy helped create the conditions that prevent many people from accessing land, capital, education and other resources to support themselves. needs adequately. In these countries, poverty is the legacy of a troubled history of conquest. The other no less important cause of poverty is discrimination and social inequalities. On the surface, poverty and inequality are two different things, but in reality, inequality can lead to widespread poverty by preventing groups with lower social status from accessing the tools and resources needed to support themselves.needs. According to the United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development: “Inequalities in income distribution and access to productive resources, basic social services, opportunities, markets and information have increased around the world whole, often causing and exacerbating poverty. » The United Nations and many other humanitarian groups also say that gender discrimination is a significant factor in keeping many women and children around the world poor. War and political instability also play a very important role in poverty. Both of these factors have often been linked to the history of colonialism, but whatever the causes of war and political upheaval, it is clear that safety, stability and security are essential to survival and, beyond that, to economic prosperity and growth. Without these foundations, there is no chance that natural resources will be exploited individually or collectively, and no level of education, talent, or technological experience will allow people to work and enjoy the benefits of their labor. In the same way, people need laws to protect their rights, properties and investments, because without legal defense, business owners cannot safely invest in a country's economy and farmers cannot become entrepreneurs. This is a clear sign that the world's poorest countries have all experienced civil war and serious political upheaval at some point during the 20th century, and many of them still have very weak governments that cannot not or do not protect their citizens against violence. It is also crucial to add vulnerability to natural disasters to our list of causes of poverty. In some less affluent regions of the world, recurring or occasional catastrophic natural disasters can pose a major obstacle to poverty eradication. The effects of floods in Bangladesh, drought in the Horn of Africa and the 2005 earthquake in Haiti are all examples of how vulnerability to natural disasters can be devastating for large parts of the world. affected countries. In each of these examples, already poor people became refugees in their own country, losing everything they owned, being forced to leave their living space, and becoming almost entirely dependent on others for survival. According to the World Bank, local fishermen's debt doubled two years after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in 2008. The Solomon Islands experienced an earthquake and tsunami in 2007 and losses from that disaster totaled 95 percent of the national budget. Without foreign aid, the governments of these countries would not have been able to meet the needs of their populations. The fifth factor worth mentioning in this work is the country's national debt. Many poor countries are heavily in debt due to loans from richer countries and international financial institutions. The poorest countries pay on average $2.30 in debt service for every dollar received in grants. Additionally, many structural adjustment policies implemented by organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank often require poorer countries to open their markets to outside businesses and investors, thereby increasing competition with local businesses and, many believe, harming potential. development of local economies. In recent years, calls for the reduction and cancellation of thedebt has multiplied, as activists also see it as an essential means of reducing poverty. It is also a priority for the United Nations to observe how economic structural adjustment policies can be designed to put less pressure on weak nations. We have only mentioned five main causes of global poverty, but there are certainly many more. At this stage of the work, it is already evident that poverty is more of a global problem, especially in the era of globalization. In the global society, different international organizations support poor countries by proposing economic policies and providing financial assistance. Today, the One Global System is responsible for measuring and trying to solve the problem of global poverty. There is no chance that the national government itself can lead the country out of poverty and famine. There are many ways to measure poverty, and it gets better every year. In this part of the work, we will try to understand how the measurement of poverty works, and since we are not economists, it is important to break it down into very simple levels. The main instrument for determining the level of poverty in a country is a characteristic of the poverty line, the minimum acceptable standard of living that must be guaranteed to citizens by their government. The poverty line divides the population into poor and non-poor. This figure depends not only on the level of minimum essential needs of the population, but also on the economic possibilities of the state: the state of the economy, the average standard of living of the population, its mentality. This figure depends not only on the level of minimum essential needs of the population, but also on the economic possibilities of the State: the economy of the country, the average standard of living of the population, its mentality. What constitutes poverty in one country is not considered poverty in another. As a result, the poverty line around the world is not the same: in developed countries it is higher than in developing countries. For example, in Eastern Europe, the minimum subsistence level as well as the minimum consumer budget play the role of the poverty line and are used to quantify poverty. A subsistence minimum is a minimum set of goods and services necessary for the preservation of human life and health. It aims for a lower level of (physiological) consumption, which is reflected in the limited number of goods and services in each product group. The subsistence minimum budget corresponds to the cost of the subsistence minimum plus compulsory payments and contributions. It is calculated on the average income per capita and by main socio-demographic groups. The minimum consumer budget is the cost of purchasing a set of consumer goods and services to meet a person's basic physiological and sociocultural needs. It is calculated for different socio-demographic groups of the population. The average minimum consumption budget income per capita is considered the minimum consumption budget of a family of four consisting of two adults and two children. The basis of the natural material structure of the consumer's minimum budget is the consumer basket system. Market basket - this is a balanced set of science-based products and services that meet the specific functional needs of the individual, at certain periods, depending on the specific conditions prevailing in the country. It includes goods and services, representing all consumption systems, necessary for normal human activity. The minimum consumption budget is revised if necessary in.