Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of those things that determine the quality of life, including food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, but also "intangibles" such as the opportunity to learn and to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens. Ongoing debates over causes, effects and best ways to measure poverty, directly influence the design and implementation of poverty-reduction programs and are therefore relevant to the fields of international development and public administration.Although poverty is generally considered to be undesirable due to the pain and suffering it may cause, in certain spiritual contexts "voluntary poverty," involving the renunciation of material goods, is seen by some as virtuous.
Poverty may affect individuals or groups, and is not confined to the developing nations. Poverty in developed countries is manifest in a set of social problems including homelessness and the persistence of "ghetto" housing clusters.
Poverty is found throughout the world. In developed countries, poverty is often seen as either a personal or a structural defect. In developing countries, the issue of poverty is more profound due to the lack of governmental funds. Thus, development literature deals greatly with how to best reduce poverty. Theories on the causes of poverty are what form the basis for said development strategies. Some theories on poverty in the developing world focus on cultural characteristics which leave a nation less development prone than developed nations. Other theories focus on the social and political environment’s role in perpetuation of poverty. The ways in which the poor are conceptualized play a vital role in how and why programs are initiated, while the poor’s relative isolation in society leads them further down the path of poverty. This page is meant to give a brief overview of several key theories on poverty both in the United States and in the developing world.
