Poverty, markets, justice: Why the market is the only cure for poverty

Abstract

Poverty is not due to lack of resources, nor generally either to incapacity or lack of motivation. It is essentially always due to bad politics, specifically, a manifold of devices and initiatives that impede the freedom necessary for people to get their jobs done. The freedom we need is both local - removing obstacles imposed by public institutions, as well as due to prevalent corruption and graft by powers that be; and international, so that people in country A can bene fit from interaction with the productive in country B, whatever A and B may be. Misguided interventions on behalf of “equality” and other distortions need to be avoided. The emphasis here must be on commercial exchange, not “foreign aid” which is generally a disaster, and certain to fail to bene fit the very people it is intended to bene fit. Philanthropic assistance should be limited to disaster relief, such as tsunamis, where voluntary private help works brilliantly - and local governments impede it hugely.