Session 6 Update : The Economics And Causes Of Poverty

In session 6 I learned about the 4 theories that are used to describe poverty trends.
1.) The lack of Human Capital
2.)Cultural deficiencies
3.)Economic Processes
4.)Structural Institutional Factors

The lack of Human Capital is the differences in productivity which is low among the poor because of their lack of knowledge, skill, training and education to sell their selves to employers. Which then leads to income differences separating the low class, middle, and high class. There are 37% poor families who are working full time but on low wage and 22.3% of poor individuals has less than a high school degree.

The cultural deficiencies (intergenerational poverty) within a nation are attitudes of indifference between races and genders. The lack of morals and self respect impact the poverty rate. The longer you live in poverty the harder it is to get out. Oscar Lewis argued that their are 70 behavioral traits that are associated with the poor. Many believe that removing children from poor households and changing the way the poor think will decrease this factor.

Economic Processes is economic growth that affects the standard of living raising it higher as the economy grow. This effects the wages of the uneducated because of their lack in technology or globalization which then makes them less profitable for a company.

Structural/ Institutional Factors is discrimination and exploitation.Women have a higher rate than men because men typically are paid higher for the same work and mothers tend to have less experience than fathers. Societies with high levels of discrimination typically have higher wages and lower wages for the same type of work based on the group a individual belongs to. Myrdal and Frazier argued that African Americans are poor because of racism and discrimination.