Comment by kanduri | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kanduri | Hacker News Reader

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75% of global poverty reduction has been due to China lifting over 800 million people. The real number is even higher if you account for Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. Then there are also many nations that don't classify themselves explicitly as government-planned economies where the public sector plays a huge role in providing a wide breadth of basic services to the people, rather than the private markets doing so.

So virtually all of the poverty alleviation has happened when governments have prioritized access to basics (housing, education, healthcare, public transport, pensions, wage regulations, utilities like power/water/sewerage, etc) to the common people rather than leave it up to "market forces".

Institutions that represent the interests of people using state budgets for inclusive policy have a much bigger role in poverty alleviation, by creating an environment of fair opportunity for the poor, than explicit deregulation/privatization.

Source: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/l...

>75% of global poverty reduction has been due to China lifting over 800 million people. The real number is even higher if you account for Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. Then there are also many nations that don't classify themselves explicitly as government-planned economies where the public sector plays a huge role in providing a wide breadth of basic services to the people, rather than the private markets doing so.

You can also make the opposite argument by pointing out China's growth only really got started with Deng's market liberalization reforms, which did the opposite of what you described.

The government guaranteed access to the basics to the masses. It made money via the market liberalization policies. I was talking about how governments using their budgets for inclusive policies can have a much more impactful role in poverty reduction.

In other nations where the governments don't take these proactive role, people are at the mercy of market forces for everything, including basics needed for survival.

Topic on how governments can make money via global trade is a different thread of discussion. This one pertains on how the public sector can/should use their power to empower the underprivileged.

Where did China get the money to do all of that? They're the poster child of benefiting from globalization and free-trade.

Money came from global trade. That trade could be possible there because the pre-Deng governments prepared a very skilled workforce. In order to have usable skills, one needs to be fed, clothed, educated, in relatively good health, housed and should be able to get to their workplace.

Governments investing on critical infrastructure, and basic services that give a foundation of opportunity is a precondition to growth led by industrialization/trade.

This thread is about how the governments can use their money and power to uplift the underprivileged, and not about mechanisms for the government to make money. It is a conversation on leaving the poor to "market forces" vs. governments ensuring basics to the impoverished.

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