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Date: | Thu Jun 22 09:52:27 2006 |
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James Ahiakpor raises some interesting points regarding absolute versus
relative poverty. He points to the relatively egalitarian distribution
of income in Sri Lanka. Sen reported that in India 1/3 of rural
population is malnourished. Sri Lanka with comparable income has no
such problem of hunger. Yet Sri Lanka's food subsidies came to no more
than 5% of GNP. possibly because of food subsidies, Sri Lanka has
higher life expectancy than S. Korea.
Inequality, by itself, has important negative consequences. That idea
is the central theme of my book. For example, is a substantial
literature on health that suggests that inequality has significant
effects on health of the rich as well as the poor.
James is correct that probably many people from Sri Lanka would gladly
come to the United States. Even so, happiness studies, for what
they're worth, suggests that the richer countries do not experience
more happiness.
Michael Perelman
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