REVIEWS

         "Macarov's cogent, revealing and constructive book … does not minimize the enormity of the problem, its complexities, and the power of the vested interests who profit from the persistence of inter-generational poverty. While he does not hesitate to forecast the long continuation of poverty amidst comparative wealth, he insists we can make affordable gains…."Must reading" for all committed to reinventing our social and economic order."

"What the Market Does to People ... offers a brisk review of an astonishing range of issues raised by the global sweep of the free market. It explores the free market's grim consequences for people, especially for poor people.'" 

"David Macarov's latest book is broad in coverage, rich in insights, and both thoughtful and thought provoking. .… This is a book that must be read by anyone interested in the human condition and its future fate in a  world dominated by material desires and acquisitiveness, where there are some winners but many more losers."

   "An engaged, thoughtful and illuminating contribution to the debate on poverty. Based on an enormously rich body of empirical information, it contains critical, sometimes ironic, views which raise the basic question of the human condition under capitalism.'"
—Piotr Salustowicz, Professor of Sociology and Social Work, 
 University of Applied Sciences, Bielefeld, Germany

As corporations, governments and global financial institutions hail an anticipated cornucopia of benefits from the seemingly inexorable processes of privatization and globalization, the spectre of a harrowing deepening of poverty -- in developed and developing countries alike should have raised pressing concerns for the present and future well-being of the poor.  But it has not.  What lies behind the silence?

In this engaged and broad-ranging analysis of global poverty, David Macarov examines how poverty is defined as governments seek to minimize its scale, and how the are poor affected as governments cut back their support. Scrutinizing the causes of poverty with special focus on systemic policies and processes, he examines how the very nature of laissez-faire economics, privatization and globalization are creating and deepening poverty for masses of people, even as they lead to the accumulation of great wealth for a relative few. 

DAVID MACAROV

DAVID MACAROV is a seasoned writer of numerous books on poverty and the workplace, such as Worker Productivity: Myths and Reality, Quitting Time: The End of Work, Persisting Unemployment: Can it be Overcome?, Social Welfare in Socialist Countries, The Structure of Social Welfare: Policy and Practice, Poverty: An International Problem as well as twenty-two chapters in books by others and over fifty articles in scholarly journals.  He is presently Professor Emeritus at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, Hebrew University.  He holds a B.A. from University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University. 

     This book is a description, explanation and expose of the poverty that currently afflicts large swathes of people in both developed and less-developed nations.  It examines and illustrates the shocking extent, the kinds and the results of poverty from both societal and individual perspectives.  The origins of poverty in attitudes and ideologies, and the societal norms and structures that currently keep billions of people poor, are examined. 
     Methods of determining statistical poverty lines, and their uses in hiding the extent of real poverty, are explained, as well as some little- known aspects of the poverty lines used in various countries.   The subterfuges used by most governments in counting the poor are also examined. 
     Particular attention is paid to the most recent and widespread causes of poverty, namely, privatization and globalization, with their emphasis on the need for a market-driven economy, in which greed is posited as goal, guide and god. The market-driven society that they serve to strengthen is discussed in terms of its effect on medical services, education and social welfare, usually resulting in two-tiered systems, one for the rich and the other for the poor.  The social results of privatization and globalization – including lack of accountability, wage depression, corruption, and the growth of inequality – are also outlined.
       Efforts to reduce or eliminate poverty are illustrated, ranging from international activities to local programs, including efforts to achieve full employment, better and wider education, social welfare reform, microenterprises and a guaranteed minimum income, none of which seem to work to any significant degree, since inequality within nations and between nations is demonstratedly growing.
      The possibility of widespread changes leading to a drastic reduction in worldwide poverty is examined, including charismatic leaders, unforeseen crises, rising popular discontent, a civil society, and world government.  Using various accepted methods of prediction, the future of poverty is postulated.

ISBN:  0-932863-38-8 Paper $16.95

A COPUBLICATION WITH
ZED BOOKS, LONDON

CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER II  — OVERVIEW OF POVERTY
WHAT IS POVERTY?
DRAWING POVERTY LINES
   Keeping the count down 
   Absolute measures 
   Nothing is more permanent than temporary 
   Calories don’t count 
   Relative Measures 
   Subjective Measures 
   Normative measures 
   Informal indices of poverty 
   Counting the poor 
WHO ARE THE POOR? 
   Children 
   The Aged 
   The Unemployed 
   The Working Poor 
   Single Parents 
SUMMARY

CHAPTER III — THE RESULTS OF POVERTY
HUNGER 
HEALTH 
Mental Health 
HOUSING 
EDUCATION
CRIME 
   Social Security Misrepresentations 
   Prostitution 
   Violent Resistance 
   Ecological spoilation 
OTHER DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES AGAINST THE  POOR
COPING WITH PENURY

CHAPTER IV –  WHAT CAUSES POVERTY
POPULAR NOTIONS OF WHAT CAUSES OF POVERTY 
    Poverty As Deviance 
    Poverty As Accident 
STRUCTURAL CAUSES OF POVERTY 
   Ideologies and attitudes 
   Religion 
   Discrimination Against Minority Groups 
   Sexism 
   Laissez-Faire Economics 

CHAPTER V:  THE PRIVATIZATION OF POVERTY 
REASONS FOR PRIVATIZATION 
   Avoiding Strife 
   Flexibility 
   Cost Cutting 
   Privatization by Stealth 
   “Least Iovernment” Ideology 
   Lack of Trust in Government 
   Government as Impotent 
   Elimination of Bureaucracy 
   Unique Needs 
   Payment for Services as Deterrent to Using Them 
   Efficiency 
   The Market as the Engine of the Economy 
RESULTS OF PRIVATIZATION 
   Industrial privatization 
   Part-time and temporary workers 
   The Privatization of Medical Services 
   Long-term care 
   Prescription drugs 
   Mental Health 
   The Privatization of Education 
   The Privatization of Social Welfare 
   Unemployment 
   Housing 
   Childcare 
   Youth Care 
   Corrections 
   The Refocusing of Social Work 
   Social Security 

CHAPTER VI: GLOBALIZING POVERTY 
DEFINITIONS AND SCOPE
RESULTS OF GLOBALIZATION 
   Lack of Accountability 
   Wage depression 
   Corruption 
   The Growth of Inequality 

CHAPTER VII – EFFORTS TO OVERCOME POVERTY
INCREASED GDP-BASED PROSPERITY AS IRRELEVANT
    The Growing Income Gap 
EMPLOYMENT AS A SPURIOUS ANTIDOTE 
     The Working Poor 
     Subsidies 
     Make-work 
     Minimum Wages 
    The Mystique of Work 
EDUCATION AS A COP-OUT
TRAINING AS STONEWALLING 
SOCIAL WELFARE: MORE HOLES THAN NET
    Vestedness 
    Administrative Regulations
    “Wage Stop”
    Retirement Programs 
   Welfare reform as persecuting the poor 
   Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) 
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: STARTING UP AND SHUTTING DOWN
               Microloans 
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS AS SHAMS
LOCAL PROGRAMS
SOME PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
    Tinkering 
   Giving Money to the Poor 
WHAT WORKS?

CHAPTER VIII – WHAT FUTURE FOR POVERTY?
WHAT  COULD HAPPEN 
   The “Great Man” Scenario 
   Crises 
   New Inventions 
   Regional And Global Protest Movements 
   Civil Society 
   One World 
THE FUTURE OF POVERTY 
EPILOGUE