Poverty: Nature or Nurture?

So I have spent the last couple of months traveling to some of the remotest parts of Ghana, first as part of my internship with Oxfam and now working with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). An exciting experience it has been indeed…Like how I’m currently sitting under this lovely tree as it’s the only location in this village with mobile connection (not such a fun fact for a phone/tech addict as myself).

Throughout my travels one question has constantly bothered me and hence the title for this post. It’s a question that has always existed in some corner of my mind. I recently asked my mom what she would define poverty as. She simply replied, “Isn’t poverty a person’s fate? Baffled I probed further, asking her to explain. Mama said to me, a child born in the city to rich parents and a child born in a remote village to ‘poor’ parents are never the same? Instantly that child is also described as ‘poor’?  And if s/he never gets an opportunity to break out of that state, isn’t it then purely their fate? Mama has a point.

Poverty: Nature or Nurture?

For most of the world’s poor, it all becomes a vicious cycle. Born to ‘poor’ parents, attend ‘poor’ schools, and hardly graduate, and if they do graduate, most likely get comparably bad grades (well since they are made to take ‘standardized’ tests) and then end up in second cycle tertiary institutions or just settle for low paying manual jobs, come up with a business plan regardless, tries to get some funding but doesn’t have worthy collateral, eventually settles down, get married, have kids and the cycle starts all over. This may be an oversimplified depiction and even maybe a myopic point of view…but admittedly that’s most often the reality on the ground…except for the few ones that break out of this vicious cycle. The ones that get away.

Then of course there are the world’s poor who are as a result of not ‘making hay whilst the sun was shining’. Those who missed out on opportunities to break out or made one too many bad choices. Those who wait for the world’s hand me downs and never take initiatives. Always waiting on the parent, the government, the donor partners, the IMF and the World Bank, someone, anyone out there.

This same question interpreted in a different way has been the driving force behind my interest in development economics, which is, Why some countries are rich and others poor? I have since read several growth theories ranging from history to anthropology and still yet to find my answer.

I’m guessing there are many out there like myself seeking the answer to this same question… if you are one of us, and find an answer, please do find me and share :)

M.