Breaking the Poverty Trap

In New Zealand we are in countdown mode to the Cambridge International Exams (CIE). My A2 class is doing some last minute revision before they go on exam leave and here is something we covered in Developing Economies which might be of interest.

The solution is shown in the figure below, where foreign help, in the form of official development assistance (ODA), helps to jump-start the process of capital accumulation, economic growth, and rising household incomes. The foreign aid feeds into three channels.

A little bit goes directly to households, mainly for humanitarian emergencies such as food aid in the midst of a drought. Much more goes directly to the budget to finance public investments, and some is also directed toward private businesses (for example, farmers) through microfinance programs and other schemes in which external assistance directly finances private small businesses and farm improvements. If the foreign assistance is substantial enough, and lasts long enough, the capital stock rises sufficiently to lift households above subsistence. At that point, the poverty trap is broken, and the figure comes into its own. Growth becomes self-sustaining through household savings and public investments supported by taxation of households. In this sense, foreign assistance is not a welfare handout, but is actually an investment that breaks the poverty trap once and for all. Adapted from Jeff Sachs – The End of Poverty.

The Role of ODA in Breaking the Poverty Trap