O Banco Mundial e a pobreza

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

The aim of this work is to evaluate the theoretical foundations of the World Bank activities in relation to poverty, especially in the 90s decade. It aims to examine the extent in which the concept of poverty of the Bank and its strategies of poverty reduction were based in the liberal theoretical matrix, pointing out the limitations of these strategies. The research is inscribed in the field of Political Economy, examining the institution and its contradictions, in order to understand the theoretical and historical backgrounds of its conceptions. The methodology employed is the crtitical analysis of the studies of the Bank, especially of the World Development Report. The first conclusion of this study is that there is a strong identification between the general conceptions of the World Bank and Liberal Economy. From the preponderance of the market as the best distributor of the resources in the economy and the trust that this mechanism can generate benefits to the whole society, including the lower classes, the concept of the poor is constructed as that individual that does not achieve basic resources of survival via market. For this group of individuals, the solution would be then the development of social policies focused on their needs, while at the same time that the orientation of the economy to the market is intensified. The fist limitation that was verified of these strategies of reducing poverty of the World Bark is that the kernel of its concern is in relation to extreme poverty, a specific category of poor, that one that does not have the basic resources for survival. There are not, within the Bank proposal, an emphasis to diminish social inequality, unless when affecting the growth and efficiency of economy. Another dimension of these limitations refers to the subsidiary role of reducing poverty in relation to the central objective of the Bank: economic growth. Poverty reduction has to be compatible with a model of development of the Bank, contributing to its intensification. Furthermore, the social policies focused on poverty, together with the priority of arguments of economic efficiency around notions of universal social rights, come to empty and weaken the concept of citizenship

ASSUNTO(S)

liberalismo econômico liberalismo targeted policies economia focalização banco mundial poverty economic liberalism pobreza world bank

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