I think this statement needs to be more precise. The Quartz article you cite states that the US “has the second-highest rate of poverty among rich countries (poverty here measured by the percentage of people earning less than half the national median income),” but this poverty threshold is still much higher than the International Poverty Line (IPL) used by the World Bank ($1.90/day), and in general, rich countries use higher poverty lines. 81% of those living in South Sudan (which is considered a least developed country) live below the IPL, whereas only 1% of Americans live below the IPL.
Also, I’m not an expert on this, but most poor people in rich countries have access to more infrastructure such as electricity and healthcare than poor people in poor countries, so their lives are qualitatively better in many ways even if it’s not reflected in their incomes.
Poverty on Native American reservations is especially dire and seems comparable to the kind of extreme poverty we see in low- and middle-income countries. For example, Allen, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, has a per-capita income of $1,539 per year, or about $4.21 per day, which is between the $3.20 and $5.50/day poverty lines often used in international development.
I think I’m convinced that getting low-income countries to develop into high-income countries is more important than the abundance agenda. OpenPhil has so much money that I’m pretty sure they should do both. As far as I know, they aren’t doing either. A country is not going to develop through malarial net donations.
I think this statement needs to be more precise. The Quartz article you cite states that the US “has the second-highest rate of poverty among rich countries (poverty here measured by the percentage of people earning less than half the national median income),” but this poverty threshold is still much higher than the International Poverty Line (IPL) used by the World Bank ($1.90/day), and in general, rich countries use higher poverty lines. 81% of those living in South Sudan (which is considered a least developed country) live below the IPL, whereas only 1% of Americans live below the IPL.
Also, I’m not an expert on this, but most poor people in rich countries have access to more infrastructure such as electricity and healthcare than poor people in poor countries, so their lives are qualitatively better in many ways even if it’s not reflected in their incomes.
Poverty on Native American reservations is especially dire and seems comparable to the kind of extreme poverty we see in low- and middle-income countries. For example, Allen, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, has a per-capita income of $1,539 per year, or about $4.21 per day, which is between the $3.20 and $5.50/day poverty lines often used in international development.
I think I’m convinced that getting low-income countries to develop into high-income countries is more important than the abundance agenda. OpenPhil has so much money that I’m pretty sure they should do both. As far as I know, they aren’t doing either. A country is not going to develop through malarial net donations.
the only organizations I know that are trying to get low-income countries to become high-income countries are the World Bank, IMF, and Growth Teams
What about the Center for Global Development and Charter Cities Institute?