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The two poverty enlightenments: historical insights from digitized books spanning three centuries

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  • Ravallion, Martin

Abstract

Word searches of Google's library of digitized books suggest that there have been two"Poverty Enlightenments"since 1700, one near the end of the 18th century and the second near the end of the 20th. The historical literature suggests that only the second came with a widespread belief that poverty could and should be eliminated. After the first Poverty Enlightenment, references to"poverty"(as a percentage of all words) were on a trend decline until 1960, after which there was a striking resurgence of interest, which came with rising attention to economics and more frequent references to both general and specific policies relevant to poverty. Developing countries also became more prominent in the literature. Both Enlightenments came with greater attention to human rights. The written record reflects the push-back against government intervention and the retreat from leftist economics and politics since the late 1970s. Although many debates from 200 years ago continue today, there is little sign that the modern revival of the classical 19th century views on the limitations of government has come with a revival of the complacency about poverty that was common early in that century.

Suggested Citation

  • Ravallion, Martin, 2011. "The two poverty enlightenments: historical insights from digitized books spanning three centuries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5549, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5549
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ravallion Martin, 2010. "Do Poorer Countries Have Less Capacity for Redistribution?," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 1-31, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Oscar Calvo-Gonz'alez & Axel Eizmendi & Germ'an Reyes, 2022. "The Shifting Attention of Political Leaders: Evidence from Two Centuries of Presidential Speeches," Papers 2209.00540, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    2. Anne Jerneck, 2015. "Understanding Poverty," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(4), pages 21582440156, November.
    3. Sara Mota Cardoso & Aurora A. C. Teixeira, 2020. "The Focus on Poverty in the Most Influential Journals in Economics: A Bibliometric Analysis of the “Blue Ribbon” Journals," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 10-42, March.
    4. Nasri, Khaled & Belhadj, Besma, 2017. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement in Tunisia: Distribution of Deprivations across Regions," MPRA Paper 83318, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Mendoza Alcantara, Alejandra & Woolcock, Michael, 2014. "Integrating qualitative methods into investment climate impact evaluations," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7145, The World Bank.
    6. David Hulme, 2013. "Poverty and development thinking:synthesis or uneasy compromise?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 18013, GDI, The University of Manchester.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rural Poverty Reduction; Services&Transfers to Poor; Achieving Shared Growth; Poverty Reduction Strategies; Regional Economic Development;
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