Opinion
- Editorial
BG View:
The end of poverty
A very recent publication
by the Inter-American Development Bank provides
some interesting insights into the issues of development
in T&T.
Entitled
Policy Perspectives for Trinidad and Tobago: From
Growth to Prosperity, the book contains chapters
on competitiveness, the labour market and designing
fiscal policy to achieve development.
For
the purposes of this column, the most interesting
chapter in the book, which was published last month
as far as I am able to discern, is one on “Policies
for Poverty Reduction” written by economist
Ralph Henry and four others.
According
to Henry’s analysis, 24 per cent of T&T’s
population was considered poor, based on the household
budgetary survey conducted in 1997/98.
Expenditure
levels suggested that eight per cent of the population
was indigent “that is based on available resources,
this group lacked the means to consume enough to
maintain bodily health.”
The
study indicated that 13.5 per cent of the Barbados
population was poor and concluded that “based
on various indicators, Barbados is clearly ahead
of T&T with respect to achieving developed country
status.”
According
to the Henry study, the difference between poor
males and females was not “statistically significant”
but added that “female household heads were
more likely to be poor than male household heads.”
In
terms of geographic dimensions of poverty, the report
indicated that county Caroni had the fewest poor
people in relation to its population in 1997/98
while St Andrew/St David and Nariva/Mayaro were
the worst off.
“Caroni
had the lowest level of indigence,” according
to the report, adding in that area, industrial and
commercial development, along with the establishment
of middle and higher-income residences, has led
to prosperity relative to other locations.
Henry
et al compared data from household budgetary surveys
in 1972/73, 1988 and 1997/98 and concluded that
Caroni was the only area that improved consistently
over the entire period and by 1997-98 exhibited
the country’s lowest poverty rates.
About
14 per cent of Caroni’s population was poor
in the latest published household survey compared
with St Patrick (which includes Cedros) where over
35 per cent of the population was poor.
“Given
that Caroni’s population is predominantly
East Indian, improved income in that county suggests
that its poorer communities experienced greater
relative increase in income over the period.”
Among
the major factors that helped to transform Caroni
from one of T&T’s poorest areas into a
relatively prosperous one by 1997/98 include:
The
establishment of a major industrial estate at Point
Lisas;
The
decision to maintain Caroni (1975) Ltd until 2003;
and
The
establishment of Chaguanas as a major commercial
node.
The
study recommended that the following areas should
be targeted immediately for poverty alleviation
policies: Nariva/Mayaro, St Patrick, St Andrew/St
David and Victoria.
Remarking
that Nariva/Mayaro had consistently been over-represented
among the poor areas in the last 25 years, the report
noted that T&T’s largest share of oil
and gas exports originated in Nariva/Mayaro but
“its people have benefited little.”
Interestingly,
the study is quite optimistic about the country’s
ability to eradicate poverty.
“At
this historic moment, T&T can, at its current
level of expenditure and resources, significantly
reduce, and even eliminate, extreme poverty.”
In
my own view, I think the most obvious agenda for
poverty researchers would be to analyse the relationship
between poverty and education.
In
other words, what is the likelihood that someone
with a university degree would not be able to afford
to take their children to doctors or know where
their next meal was coming from.
On
the other hand, is there a relationship between
income and educational achievement and number of
years in school.
It
is clear that the State makes primary, secondary
and now tertiary education available to the population
without direct charge.
The
issue that the poverty researchers need to grapple
with is how come certain groups seem to do better
than others.
If
one were to observe the young people who graduate
in among the top 100 SEA students or who dominate
A-Level scholarships or even who graduate from UWI,
one discerns certain patterns.
Is
there a relationship between the number of hours
dedicated to study and academic success?
And
is the study by Henry et al correct when it says
there is a relationship between poverty and single,
female-headed households?
In
other words, who is more likely to be poor: a single
mother with two children working at KFC or a single
mother with two children who has her own small business?
Whose
children are likely to have a better chance of success
and of breaking the poverty cycle—the KFC
mother or the businesswoman, especially if the businesswoman
also loves to read and discuss sensibly?
BG View is
the Trinidad Guardian Business Magazine - Business
Guardian, editor's position on an issue.
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Editor's
Note: This commentary was published by The
Trinidad Guardian,
on
July 27th 2006 , Petroleumworld reprint this article
in the interest of our readers.
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07 30 06
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