The ability to identify the causes of poverty and resultant effects assists in devising effective management methods of the challenge based on both principle and practice. Poverty refers to the inability of a person to afford basic needs. It is largely associated with inadequate resources. Indeed, most poor people live under one dollar per day, according to a recent survey by the World Bank.
Therefore, they do not spend a high budget on calories. Instead, non-food items such as tobacco and alcohol take center stage when it comes to spending. Close to 4.1% of their total budgetary allocation caters for non-food items. However, spending on calories appears to increase during festivals. About 99% of extremely poor households increase their expenditures on calories during festivals. Banerjee and Duflo confirm that additional calories do not appear to be a major concern for the extremely hungry and poor individuals.
Poverty is among the most distressing social-economic problems. It subjects poor populations to myriads of negative social impacts. While definition of the term ‘poverty’ is still controversial across the globe, Debraj notes that it leads to negative implications on spending (250). Besides, we may not fail to mention the challenge of nutrition arising from the scarcity of money to spend on food.
According to Banerjee and Duflo, the poor do not buy most of the foods rich in calories because they are highly-priced commodities. Besides, the population mostly constitutes those in lower social classes (The Economic Lives 150). It is obvious that the solution to this challenge should be broad, highly objective, and long-term.
The effect of poverty on spending and decision making among the poor is equally shocking. It is apparent that even though key developments are evident every year, the level of poverty is constantly rising. Banerjee and Duflo report that over half of the global population lives on less than 2.5 dollars per day (Poor economics 3). Notably, about 40% of the total world population accounts for only 5% of the global income, while the wealthiest 20% accounts for 75% of the total global income. These affect spending choices and decisions on calories among the poor people (Banerjee and Duflo Poor economics 45).
Most poor individuals prefer buying rice, millet, and sugar, owing to their nutritional value. Debraj argues that it can be cumbersome to separate poverty from poor health and a high immortality index (252). When poverty continues to spread, poor health becomes a key characteristic since such individuals cannot afford a balanced diet and medical expenses. Children and women are usually the worst victims of poverty.
Most poor communities lack the capacity to buy nutritional foodstuffs that can assist then in maintaining good health. Debraj further indicates that since 1990, a large number of poor populations have been suffering from poor health due to malnutrition (257). Poor health and high mortality rates also aggravate poverty.
In summary, addressing poverty is indeed one of the most difficult tasks. The international community has been providing aid in the form of finances, food, and technical capacity to carry out farming. From the discussion, it is evident that poverty influences choices made by individuals, especially in regards to food and nutrition. In my view, it is necessary to formulate new methods of addressing poverty in order to solve nutritional needs among poor communities. It is crucial to adopt local methods of fighting poverty as opposed to the introduction of new (advanced) models that are not compatible with the local setting.
Works Cited
Banerjee, Abhijit, and Esther Duflo. Poor economics: a radical rethinking of the way to fight global poverty. New York: PublicAffairs, 2012. Print.
Banerjee, Abhijit, and Esther Duflo. The Economic Lives of the Poor. 2006. Web.
Ray, Debraj. Development economics. New Delhi: Princeton University Press, 1998. Print.