How to deal with poverty?
The Turkish Statistics Institute, or TurkStat, revealed the results of its recent survey on income distribution in Turkey. Unfortunately there was no improvement for the poorest. Moreover, almost 17 percent of the population in 2008 was living below the poverty line and this percentage is bigger in cities than in urban areas. It is a very serious, not only social and economic, but more importantly, political problem. Unjust income distribution is the biggest barrier hindering the establishment of durable social peace inside the country.
Even in rich countries income distribution is much more balanced than developing countries such as Turkey, the recent crises put the poverty problem together with unemployment on the top of the political agenda. The reason is obvious: Not only the number of unemployed but also homeless and underprivileged people increased during the last two years.
The politicians when struggling to solve debt and deficit problems they are also aware of the negative social and political implications of poverty. However they are also aware of the difficulties of dealing with this, before reaching reasonable debt and deficit figures. Obviously is much more grave in most of the developing countries, even some of them have record growth rate figures but at the same time have unbelievably unjust income distribution.
When it is assumed that the situation in Turkey is at least better than those countries, the official figures point out that there has been no improvement during the recent years, as mentioned above. To balance income distribution, first of all it is necessary to have the knowledge of the roots of poverty.
It is not possible to make an accurate diagnosis of this social illness by only asserting that the increases in wages and salaries are not in pace with the rate of inflation. As the total labor force is rather small, compared with western countries, and the number of workers in the formal sector is much smaller in Turkey, it is not possible to assess a definite judgment on poverty merely on the basis of information only about the wages and the salaries of the officially registered workers.
Moreover, as there is not a definite distinction among social classes in developing countries there are serious differences between income and wealth distribution. When a household earning a very modest income might have a sizable wealth as real property, another household which has a big income might not have anything which may be defined as wealth.
Regarding this peculiar situation it must be understood that how difficult to form a policy to balance income distribution. With more simple words, if it is not known who is rich and who is poor it is impossible to reach real poor and to fight against poverty. The other problem is the unknowns in the agricultural sector. Against the common belief and the official figures some researches emphasize that the real poverty exists not in shanty towns around metropolitan centres but mainly in rural areas.
It is very difficult to construct a sound income distribution policy having so many unknowns. Then what will be the solution? Is it possible to have a reasonable solution by reaching poor families directly one by one rather than implementing macro policies? Is such a policy is feasible even it seems reasonable? What kind of measures will be required in order to prevent the abuse of such a policy, experienced in some countries, especially in Turkey?
It is believed that governments in all civilized countries are seeking answers to these questions. Unfortunately the recent crises and added problems in western countries might delay the continuation of these efforts. But it must be understood that if mass poverty can not be eliminated in a reasonably short time it will not be possible to establish world wide social peace.
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