The Nature of Poverty is an economics book co-authored by 2019 Nobel laureate in economics Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. The book stems from the two authors' 15-year in-depth investigation and research on the world's poverty-stricken regions, and they traveled to 18 countries and regions with the largest concentrations of poor people in the world, contacted activists of non-governmental organizations, health care workers and microfinance providers, and even went into the streets and alleys to talk to the poor and explore the real root causes of poverty.
The central idea of the book is that poverty is not just a lack of money, but a lack of choice. Poor people are unable to make choices that are beneficial to them because they lack resources, such as food, housing, health care, and education. This lack of choice can lead to a vicious circle in which the poor cannot escape poverty.
The book also delves into the root causes of poverty, arguing that the root cause of poverty lies in the inequality of social and economic structures, as well as certain unjust policies, such as unfair tax policies, which can exacerbate the gap between the rich and the poor. Poverty reduction therefore requires changes in the social and economic structure and the development of just policies, in addition to direct assistance.
The Nature of Poverty is not a book that teaches people how to get rich, but an academic study of how to understand and solve the problem of poverty. The book offers many practical and proven recommendations and solutions for poverty alleviation, providing important guidance for policymakers, philanthropists, politicians, and all those who want the world to be lifted out of poverty.
When we talk about crossing classes and becoming rich, there are often many strategies and methods that come to mind. Investment, entrepreneurship, education, upskilling, ......These are all avenues that we generally believe can help us. However, if we do not have a deep understanding of the nature of poverty, then these efforts may be just extravagant expectations.
The Nature of Poverty offers a fresh perspective on poverty. It reveals that poverty is not simply a lack of income, but a complex social phenomenon that involves education, health, culture, politics and many other aspects.
This book reminds us that poverty is often a vicious circle. People living in poverty often struggle to escape poverty because they lack education, skills and resources. At the same time, they are trapped in a cycle from which poverty prevents them from having access to better education and resources.