Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the global dimensions of poverty, hunger, death, and disease. Design/methodology/approach – The authors assemble the most recently available data on these four human scourges from reliable international sources. Findings – Reducing the...

This essay attempts to show that there is a satisfactory resolution to the long-standing controversy as to the whether poverty is measured strictly in terms of a minimal-living (or absolute) standard or an income-distribution (or relative) standard, a resolution which is based on the duality of...

In 2001 the mean income deficit for poor families was $7,231. The mean income surplus for nonpoor families was $57,841. The sum of those two estimates—$65,072—represents what we call the family income gap. Between 1993 and 2000—the period marking the longest expansion in U.S. economic...