Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Portrait of the poor: an assets-based approach

2003; Association of College and Research Libraries; Volume: 40; Issue: 06 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5860/choice.40-3533

1943-5975

Orazio Attanasio, Miguel Székely, George Gray-Molina, Wilson Jiménez, Ernesto Pérez de Rada, Ernesto Yáñez, Marcelo Côrtes Nerí, Edward Joaquim Amadeo, Alexandre Pinto Carvalho, Dante Contreras, Osvaldo Larrañaga, José Leibovich, Jairo Núñez, Juán Diego Trejos, Nancy Montiel, Javier Escobal, Jaime Saavedra-Chanduví, Máximo Torero,

Economic Theory and Policy

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.