The World Bank and "Global Poverty Reduction": Good Policies or Bad Data?

Kiely, Ray

Abstract

This article investigates recent claims — made principally by the World Bank — that world poverty is declining, and that this decline is due to countries adopting “pro-globalisation” policies. It is argued that such claims are based on selective and very questionable evidence, as well as a technocratic approach to poverty reduction that ignores the issue of inequality. Through an assessment of the problems of measuring income-related poverty, it is argued that (i) there is insufficient reliable data for us to know what is happening in terms of poverty trends; (ii) the measurements used tend to have a bias towards recording a long-term reduction in global poverty; (iii) there is a linkage between poverty and inequality; (iv) inequality, both within and between countries, is a far more important issue than current poverty reduction discourses suggest; (v) insofar as there may be a decline in poverty, this is despite, rather than because of “pro-globalisation” policies. The article concludes by briefly suggesting that the world economy is not as benign a force as the World Bank suggests, and that capital concentration takes place through a process of “cumulative causation.”

Citation

Kiely, R. (2004). The World Bank and "Global Poverty Reduction": Good Policies or Bad Data?. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 34(1), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472330480000271

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2007
• Journal: Journal of Contemporary Asia
• Print ISSN: 0047-2336
• Electronic ISSN: 1752-7554
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-20
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00472330480000271
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00472330480000271