Poverty of Nations, The

Khusro, A.M. The Poverty of Nations. London: Macmillan Press, 1999. 189. pp.

Economic poverty appears to be a universal phenomenon but it is particularly prevalent in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In general, no area of the globe is free of poverty and in many areas of the world a new kind of poverty is replacing the old. The reason for this belief is the continuation of under development and the lack of will on the part of ruling elites, the technological monopoly of industrialised countries, illiteracy, socio-economic inequality, unemployment and repeated recessions. In addition, relative poverty in the world today is the result of failure on the part of political, religious, and mercantile elites of the rich countries. The proliferation of poverty still continues and there is no constructive effort to reduce it in the world.

Khusro's contribution on The Poverty of Nations raises one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of time, namely why do some nations achieve economic success and while others remain mired in poverty? In this context, the author comprehensively analyses the economic, political and cultural mores and historical circumstance to explain the nature of Third World poverty. The book has three parts, roughly divided between analytical ones on the socio-economic background of poverty, market economy, poverty levels and solutions for the eradication of poverty. The author defines the core causes of poverty and notes that poverty seems to be on the rise and engulfing between rich and poor.

The author divides the world into five major economic categories: (1) the industrialised world; (2) the planned economies of the second world; (3) developing high-growth economies; (4) developing mixed economies and (5) low-income or less developed countries and explains that each of these categories experiences either a persistence of poverty or new poverty due to growing prosperity. The author also analyses the contemporary widespread stagnation of economies, emerging poverty problems, economic disorder and industrial recession. he explains that the history of the wealth and poverty of nations over the decades is the history of the creation of industrialised Europe and diffusion of technologies in the world and this development has changed the shape and sociology of people.

Khusro is not the first author to attempt to explain the world's staggering disparity in wealth and long-term economic growth, but he is one of the best, who has unabashed confidence in the verity of his arguments, and a keen eye for narrative. An important counterpoint in his work is his argument that strategies are needed for breaking the ice of stagnation, but will not be possible without the help of private and public sector institutions and through the market economy and state support. he criticises the global economic system which has failed to reduce unemployment and enhance industrial and agricultural growth. However, in one place the author himself is confused about semi-command economies, as to whether this would be the best replacement of market economy or whether privatisation would be a better system for the developing countries to put them on the track of economic stability, high employment and poverty reduction.

The author further focuses on various indices of poverty such as absolute, relative, proportionate, percentage and sectoral of poverty in order to determine the degree of poverty in the developing countries. he also discusses measures of the quality of life in terms of human development, which attempts to sum up the levels of a population in terms of income, education and life expectancy. The author applies the scale of poverty on five selected countries (USA, Russia, Korea, India and Ethiopia) on the basis of wide spread and typicality, as well as inclusion of extreme cases within each category. Thus, the author analyses poverty under different definitions and applies different ways of measurement but none of the definition or methods of estimation turns out to be entirely satisfactory.

In the end, the author succeeds in binding together an extremely diverse body of work and making firm conclusion with an excellent sense of narrative pace. For this purpose, he comprehensively evaluates the causes of the persistence of poverty and then seeks different solutions in different contexts, particularly through the instrumentation of liberalistion, deregulation and the market economy. he asserts the right of governments to control economies whereever they feel it necessary to manage the disturbed sectors. Moreover, the author examines the role of the state through its operation to correct the social sectors of education and health. The author also emphasises that private enterprise as the major mechanism for development and poverty eradication can play an important role for mass production of consumer goods and services.

The book is potentially useful for the study of poverty and also valuable to understand the empirical features of less developed economies. It is a piece of scholarship reflecting great knowledge of this particular subject and phenomenon. It would serve equally as a text book for advanced scholars and students of Third World developmental studies.